Born 6 June 1903 in Tblisi. Died 1 May 1978 in Moscow.

Aram Katchaturian entered the Gnessin School of Music in 1923, where he studies cello playing. After two years he was admitted into the course personally directed by Gnessin. On finishing the school in 1926 he entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he continued to study under Gnessin, attending at the same time the classes of Vassilenko and Litinshkov. Miaskovsky became his principal teacher. In 1934 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory.

His music is deeply rooted in the folklore of his native Armenia. In addition he draws from the sources of Georgian, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Turkmenian and Irano-Azerbaijan national melodies. At the same time his works reveals marked features common to West-European art forms.