Memorial Music Scholarships, made possible by donations collected by Professor Arpi Hamalian in memory of Dr. Mohammed Haroon (1939–2025).
WHY THESE SCHOLARSHIPS
The purpose of these scholarships is somewhat different from many of the Foundation’s other awards. For the younger musicians, they are primarily encouragement scholarships: a way of recognizing talent, work and promise early in a young musician’s development. For the older recipients, they are also introductory scholarships, allowing the Atken Armenian Foundation to get to know promising young musicians whom we have not previously supported extensively, to learn more about their aspirations and needs, and, we hope, to develop some of these relationships further in the years ahead.
REMEMBERING DR. MOHAMMED HAROON
FROM GUYANA TO THE WORLD
Dr. Mohammed Haroon knew first-hand what education and opportunity could make possible.
Born in Dundee, Mahaicony, Guyana, in 1939, he grew up in a large Indo-Guyanese family descended from Indian indentured labourers. His father died when Mohammed was only ten, and his mother, Amerally Sahaidan, raised eleven children while also taking three homeless boys into her home and treating them as her own.
From very modest beginnings, Dr. Haroon built an extraordinary academic and professional life. After beginning his career with Guyana’s Ministry of Agriculture, he studied in the United States, earning a B.Sc. in Soil Science and an M.Sc. in Crop Science from North Carolina State University, followed by a Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
His international development career later took him to Rwanda, Haiti, Zaire—now the Democratic Republic of Congo—Cameroon and Tanzania. His final professional posting was in Rajasthan, India, bringing his life in a sense full circle to the country from which his paternal and maternal grandparents had been taken generations earlier as indentured workers.
MUSIC AND AN ARMENIAN CONNECTION
Professor Arpi Hamalian recalls two details from Dr. Haroon’s life that seem especially fitting for a scholarship supporting young Armenian musicians.
One was a story from his formative years about an Armenian woman working at the U.S. Embassy, who signed a rare multiple-entry visa that helped make his studies in the United States possible. He remembered that act of kindness and the Armenian connection it created.
The other was music. During the long hours of laboratory work of his university years, music was often his companion, and it continued to accompany him through his international development work in remote parts of the world.
Dr. Haroon immigrated to Quebec in 1975 and became a Canadian citizen in 1978. Although Canada became home, Guyana remained deeply present in the way he understood himself and his family. He liked to remind his nieces and nephews that “a lot of good things came out of Guyanese mud as gifts to the world!”
It seems especially fitting that a scholarship bearing his name should encourage young people who are themselves discovering where their abilities may take them.
ENCOURAGEMENT SCHOLARSHIPS
Armen Ghapanyan — Piano — 10
Armen studies piano at the Sayat-Nova Music School in Yerevan with Marine Margaryan. He has already received recognition at the Art Music International Competition-Festival and participated in the Vienna Beethoven International Competition and the Kamerton-Solist competition, while also taking masterclasses with pianists Lou Duc Anh and Ruben Kozin. His concert experience includes appearances at the Aram Khachaturian House-Museum, the Komitas Chamber Music House and programs featuring participants in Armenia’s New Names initiative.
Hrachya Ghazaryan — Piano — 11
Hrachya studies piano with Marine Margaryan at the Sayat-Nova Music School, having begun the instrument at eight; remarkably, during his first year of study he became the youngest student to appear in the school’s annual final concert. His awards include first prizes at the Fanny Mendelssohn and Paderewski competitions, a Grand Prix at Art Music, and prizes at the Babajanyan International Competition and the Fujairah International Piano Festival. He has worked in masterclasses with Lou Duc Anh, Armen-Levon Manaseryan, Pascal Godart, Albert Tiu, Alexander Serdar and Hayk Melikyan, and also composes his own music.
Edouard Karaseferyan — Cello — 11
Edouard studies cello with Gayane Rafaelyan at the Armen Tigranyan Music School in Yerevan and won first prize at the 2025 Art Music International Competition. He has participated in masterclasses with Erkki Lahesmaa, Levon Mouradian and Aram Talalyan, and has performed alongside Narek Hakhnazaryan as part of a young-artist program. In 2026 he was selected for the Armenian Virtuosos program and added another distinction with second prize at AGBU Discovers Talents.
Valeria Stelmashova — Piano — 12
Valeria was born in Akhalkalaki, Javakhk (Javakheti), Georgia, and began studying music at the age of six. She later moved to Tbilisi, where she studies piano with Nino Katamadze at the Evgeni Mikeladze Central Music School. She has participated in the Future Stars and Tengiz Amirejibi competitions, receiving second prize and a special jury prize, and last summer participated in Zartonk Academy.
Arshavir Gasparyan — Clarinet — 13
Arshavir studies with Armen Sahakyan at the Stepan Jrbashyan Music School in Yerevan and has already developed an extraordinary competition record for his age. His recent achievements include first prizes at the International Schubert Competition Vienna, the Balakirev International Music Competition in St. Petersburg, the Magic Lyre International Competition and numerous other events; in Paris’s Nouvelles Étoiles competition, he also received a special invitation to perform with orchestra. He is a member of Armenian Virtuosos, has attended the New Names International Creative Summer School in Suzdal, and already has substantial chamber and wind-orchestra experience.
Menua Melik-Haykazyan — Piano — 13
Menua is a remarkably versatile musician studying piano, violin, guitar, flute, percussion and academic voice at the Alexander Hekimyan Music School. As a pianist he has performed with orchestras and at events in Armenia and abroad, including the COAF Gala at Cipriani Hall in New York, and has received numerous competition prizes; his interests also extend to composition, languages and mathematics. This summer he participated in our Zartonk Academy in a different capacity—as a flutist studying with Narek Avagyan, demonstrating the unusually broad musical curiosity that distinguishes him.
Edouard Simonyan — Piano — 13
Edouard studies at the P. Tchaikovsky Specialized Music School with Lilit Mkrtchyan and has played the piano since age seven. His achievements include a Grand Prix at the Maestro International Competition-Festival, first prizes at the Tokyo Online Piano Competition, Kamerton-Solist and Nouvelles Étoiles, and a silver medal at the 2024 Arctic Delphic Games. He has represented Armenia at SOS Talents gala concerts in Paris and taken masterclasses with pianists including Sontraud Speidel, Eliso Bolkvadze, Ashley Wass and Hayk Melikyan.
Narek Sargsyan — Shvi — 14
Narek began music at six in Kapan and now studies at the Sayat-Nova Music School with Avag Margaryan. He has won Grand Prix awards at competitions in Prague, Yerevan and Vienna, and at the 2024 Kapan International Music Festival performed with musicians including Marius Preda and Roby Lakatos, where he was recognized as the festival’s best artist. In 2026 he became one of only eleven finalists in Armenia’s national selection for Eurovision Young Musicians, remarkable in itself because he competed on the traditional Armenian shvi, and this summer he participated in Zartonk Academy’s folk ensemble under Levon Eskenian.
Luiza Melkumyan — Santour — 15
Luiza studies at the Alexey Hekimyan Music School and has been part of Armenia’s New Names circle of gifted young performers. In 2025 she was selected for the Alexander Spendiaryan House-Museum’s Children-Masters series, which gives promising young performers an individual platform, and she subsequently appeared internationally at the Children of Armenia Fund gala in New York, where her performance brought Armenian and Middle Eastern musical traditions together. This summer she participated in Zartonk Academy under Levon Eskenian, continuing her development in Armenian traditional music.
Vahe Danielyan — Cello — 16
Vahe is a young Yerevan cellist who was selected as a 2025 scholar of the Music for Future Foundation. That year he performed with the Yerevan Youth Orchestra at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall and at Berlin’s Konzerthaus during Young Euro Classic, and later participated in Yuri Bashmet’s International Festival of Youth Orchestras in Moscow. His development has also included advanced work with prominent Armenian cellists, including a masterclass with Narek Hakhnazaryan.
INTRODUCTORY SCHOLARSHIPS
For these somewhat older young musicians, the Dr. Mohammed Haroon Memorial Music Scholarship is also a way for us to say: we would like to know you better.
These initial awards give the Foundation an opportunity to follow their next steps, understand their goals and identify areas in which the Foundation—or one of its supporters—might make a more substantial contribution to their development.
Lilit Stepanian — Clarinet — 17
Lilit studies clarinet at the Sayat-Nova Music School with Vyacheslav Manucharyan and has chamber and orchestral experience, including performances with the Yerevan Youth Symphony Orchestra. Her competition achievements include first prize at the New York Global Music Competition, first prize and a special award for exceptional musicality at the Bach International Music Competition, a gold prize at the Carl Reinecke International Music Competition, and first prize at Nouvelles Étoiles in France in 2026. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, participated in international masterclasses, and most recently represented Armenia with fellow Armenian Virtuosos musicians at the 2026 International Festival of Youth Orchestras in Moscow and Sochi; she also studies classical voice and plays piano.
Maria Hakobyan — Cello — 17
Maria is a 2026 participant in the Armenian Virtuosos Educational and Development Program. Her training has taken her beyond Armenia, including the MECMA Academy in Dubai, while her masterclass experience includes Narek Hakhnazaryan, Alexander Chaushian, Denis Severin, Michael Hakhnazaryan, Razvan Suma and Dragan Djordjevic. She has also received international competition recognition, including first prize at the 2025 Berlin Grand Prix Virtuoso competition.
Tigran Gasparyan — Oboe — 18
Tigran studied first at the Stepan Jrbashyan Music School and then at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Specialized Music School, and has been a Music for Future Foundation scholarship recipient over several years. His distinctions include a Grand Prix at the Zhar Ptitsa competition and the Young Discovery Award and Grand Prize at AGBU Discovers Talents, while his training has included masterclasses with oboists such as Hansjörg Schellenberger and participation in MECMA in Dubai. He has served as principal oboist of the Yerevan Youth Symphony Orchestra and has now been admitted to the CPES program at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris, marking an important next step toward professional studies.
Edgar Nersisyan — Saxophone — 20
Edgar came to the saxophone after first completing guitar studies with distinction at the Alexander Hekimyan Music School, including a graduation solo recital. He subsequently studied saxophone with Irina Gasparyan, has appeared as both soloist and ensemble musician in Armenia, France, Austria and Bulgaria, and has received first prizes and Grand Prix awards at national and international competitions, including the Vienna Beethoven Competition. Since 2024 he has performed professionally with the Yerevan State Wind Orchestra.
AN INVITATION TO OUR SUPPORTERS
The purpose of these scholarships is to encourage young musicians, introduce new artists to the Foundation and begin relationships that may grow over time.
As those relationships develop, individual support might take many forms: instruments, private lessons, masterclasses, travel to an academy or competition, tuition assistance, accompaniment costs or support for studies abroad. We hope to learn where support can have the greatest impact for each musician.
We therefore warmly invite any current supporter of the Atken Armenian Foundation—or anyone considering becoming one—who feels a particular connection with one of these children or young people to contact us about supporting them on a more individual basis.
A supporter may feel drawn to a particular young musician, instrument, region or area of study. The Foundation can work with interested donors to identify an appropriate form of support and direct it toward that recipient’s continuing musical development.
The Dr. Mohammed Haroon Memorial Music Scholarships have been made possible through donations collected by Professor Arpi Hamalian in honour of her friend and colleague. We hope that, for some of these young musicians, this first connection with the Foundation will become the beginning of a much longer relationship.
Dr. Haroon’s own life demonstrated how far education, determination and an opportunity offered at the right moment can carry a person.
May his memory continue through the journeys of these young musicians.
A lot of good things came out of Guyanese mud as gifts to the world!
Dr. Mohammed Haroon
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