About
Grigori Balasanyan is an Armenian composer. He was born in 2004 in Yerevan, Armenia. Balasanyan has been composing music since the age of 8. The projects Grigori is working on range from concert pieces to multimedia collaborations and film scores. His compositional style is a strong blend of his Armenian cultural heritage and contemporary writing techniques. Using various musical languages from different cultures around the world, he strives to create his own unique style that allows him to portray modern issues of the world.
One of the most significant projects in Balasanyan's career is his first ballet, based on a fairy tale written by the former First Lady of Armenia, Nouneh Sarkissian. It was recorded in 2019 by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and premiered in 2021 at the Yerevan State Choreographic College. It became the first children's ballet in the history of Armenian music.
Balasanyan is the winner of multiple international and local composition competitions, such as Rebirth, Vahe & Lucie 2018, and the Composition Competition Novosibirsk 2015. He has released two CD albums, Melody and Alice in Wonderland, each containing 6–7 instrumental compositions.
From 2020 to 2022, Balasanyan wrote multiple large ensemble pieces that were performed by the BHS Instrumental Music Association in Burbank, California. During the same period, he collaborated with the BHS Animation Program and IMA on a piece titled The Maya, which was presented at Nickelodeon Studios. Balasanyan has also done multimedia collaborations with companies such as Haymillian, a London-based global media localization and access company. He composed music for an educational animation in Latin American Spanish that teaches children basic English. He is also the composer of several short film scores, created in collaboration with students from the Yerevan State School of Cinematography.
Since joining the Berklee community in 2022, Balasanyan has had 11 premieres of concert works at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, ranging from solo to ensemble pieces. One of his string quintets was premiered and workshopped during a masterclass organized by violinist Judith Eissenberg and cellist Rhonda Rider. A few of his recent premieres include Purgatorio (written for symphonic orchestra), Fallen (for string orchestra), and the first act of his opera Silent Tears, premiered by the Horizon Ensemble in Boston, MA on October 15, 2023. In 2024, Balasanyan premiered a Pierrot ensemble piece titled Garni, written for Sound Icon Ensemble.
The composer also made his debut at the world-renowned Carnegie Hall, NYC, on March 3, 2024, where he presented his String Quartet No. 2, the duet Farewell Yerevan (for piano and flugelhorn, performed with renowned trumpeter Tony Donatelle), and his solo piano composition The Armenian Rhapsody.
Balasanyan had the fully staged premiere of his first opera Silent Tears in collaboration with the Fenway Opera Club in Boston, MA.
His most recent performances include the premiere of his symphonic piece The Mountains of Aragats (for the Boston Conservatory Composer’s Symphony Orchestra), Longing (for clarinet and piano, written for Annika Pollock), and The Lord’s Prayer (a choral work, premiered in 2025).
One of the most significant projects in Balasanyan's career is his first ballet, based on a fairy tale written by the former First Lady of Armenia, Nouneh Sarkissian. It was recorded in 2019 by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and premiered in 2021 at the Yerevan State Choreographic College. It became the first children's ballet in the history of Armenian music.
Balasanyan is the winner of multiple international and local composition competitions, such as Rebirth, Vahe & Lucie 2018, and the Composition Competition Novosibirsk 2015. He has released two CD albums, Melody and Alice in Wonderland, each containing 6–7 instrumental compositions.
From 2020 to 2022, Balasanyan wrote multiple large ensemble pieces that were performed by the BHS Instrumental Music Association in Burbank, California. During the same period, he collaborated with the BHS Animation Program and IMA on a piece titled The Maya, which was presented at Nickelodeon Studios. Balasanyan has also done multimedia collaborations with companies such as Haymillian, a London-based global media localization and access company. He composed music for an educational animation in Latin American Spanish that teaches children basic English. He is also the composer of several short film scores, created in collaboration with students from the Yerevan State School of Cinematography.
Since joining the Berklee community in 2022, Balasanyan has had 11 premieres of concert works at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, ranging from solo to ensemble pieces. One of his string quintets was premiered and workshopped during a masterclass organized by violinist Judith Eissenberg and cellist Rhonda Rider. A few of his recent premieres include Purgatorio (written for symphonic orchestra), Fallen (for string orchestra), and the first act of his opera Silent Tears, premiered by the Horizon Ensemble in Boston, MA on October 15, 2023. In 2024, Balasanyan premiered a Pierrot ensemble piece titled Garni, written for Sound Icon Ensemble.
The composer also made his debut at the world-renowned Carnegie Hall, NYC, on March 3, 2024, where he presented his String Quartet No. 2, the duet Farewell Yerevan (for piano and flugelhorn, performed with renowned trumpeter Tony Donatelle), and his solo piano composition The Armenian Rhapsody.
Balasanyan had the fully staged premiere of his first opera Silent Tears in collaboration with the Fenway Opera Club in Boston, MA.
His most recent performances include the premiere of his symphonic piece The Mountains of Aragats (for the Boston Conservatory Composer’s Symphony Orchestra), Longing (for clarinet and piano, written for Annika Pollock), and The Lord’s Prayer (a choral work, premiered in 2025).