Djivan Gasparyan

Greater Los Angeles Middle Eastern/Middle Eastern-American Music

Djivan Gasparyan (1928-2021) was an Armenian musician and composer based in Sherman Oaks, CA. He played the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Born in Solak, Armenia to parents from Mush, Gasparyan started to play duduk when he was six. In 1948 he became a soloist of the Armenian Song and Dance Popular Ensemble and the Yerevan Philarmonic Orchestra. He won four medals at UNESCO worldwide competitions (1959, 1962, 1973, and 1980). In 1973 Gasparyan was awarded the honorary title People’s Artist of Armenia and in 2002, he received the WOMEX (World Music Expo) Lifetime Achievement Award. As a professor at the Yerevan State Musical Conservatory he instructed and nurtured many performers to professional levels of performance in duduk.

Gasparyan participated in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program in 2008 with his grandson Jivan Gasparyan Jr.