Biography
Duo Khojayan/Poortinga
This piano and violin Duo is 'on the spot' as the dutch 'Leeuwarder Courant' called them in May 2016. Both artists have had an extensive training in the solo and chamber music repertoire of the great old masters and are now working together to perform the music that survived after centuries of being written. Currently they are studying as a duo with Enrico Pace and Lukas Hagen at the 'Accademia di Musica' in Pinerolo (Italy). They take masterclasses from Trio di Parma, Jacques Ogg and Wim Zwaag.
After having performed the complete set of the 10 Beethoven sonatas during the 'Music without Borders' Festival, they continued on March 10 with the integral performance of the Brahms violin sonatas. After that performance the duo continued with their career winning the 'Grand Prix' and both first prizes for violin solo and accompaniment at the 'Musical Fireworks International Competition' in Baden-Württenberg (DE).
Meri Khojayan started her violin studies in Yerevan (Armenia). She was awarded the best student of the year 2008/2009. She graduated from the class of Eduard Tadevosyan with the highest honors. After she finished in Armenia she continued her studies with Boris Belkin. Having studied with him for 5 years, she graduated from the conservatory in Maastricht with both her Bachelor and her Masters degree.
Meri has won many prizes and scholarships along the way including the second prize (first not awarded) at the Khachaturian competition, First prize at the Vieuxtemps competition and the first prize at the Valsesia Musica competition in Corsa Roma (Italy). Meri was a soloist with the Polish Philharmonic orchestra, the Philharmonic orchestra 'Zuid Nederland', Armenian Philharmonic and the Philharmonic orchestra of Dubai.
Robert studied with Tamara Poddubnaya from 2006 till 2012, first in Groningen (Netherlands) and afterwards at the Long Island Conservatory in New York. After his studies in New York, Robert continued with Konstantin Bogino (Italy), Jean Francois Bouvery (France) and currently Robert finished his Master's degree at the Maastricht University.
Robert attended many festivals in many different countries including: USA, Holland, Italy and Finland. Robert won the bronze medal at the Young Classical Virtuosos of Tomorrow Competition in 2011. In 2012 he played Brahms first concerto with orchestra in New York. In 2017 he won the first prize for his accompaniment and the Grand Prix for the Duo at the 'Musical Fireworks International Competition ' in Baden-Württenberg (DE).