Harold Hagopian
Encyclopedia
Harold Hagopian is an American violinist, entrepreneur, record producer and founder of Traditional Crossroads world music record label.
virtuoso Richard Hagopian
. His paternal grandparents fled the 1915 Armenian Genocide and settled in California. He was raised on the family’s grape farm in Fresno where he discovered his love for music at a very young age. He was playing the drum along with his father at the age of 4 and continued his interest in music until he found his passion in violin playing at just 5 years old. Hagopian graduated from The Juilliard School in 1988 with a B.M. in classical violin.
had written a violin concerto specifically for Hagopian, which he was able to premiere during a performance.
Hagopian also plays the kanun and clarinet
, and has served as the director of the Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Music Ensemble (CMEME) at Cornell University
.
Hagopian has frequently accompanied his father, Richard Hagopian, in performances in the past. He has performed in a number of ensembles with prominent Balkan artists such as Yuri Yunakov. Hagopian is also a consultant to the Silk Road Project
founded by Yo-Yo Ma
.
Hagopian cites Jascha Heifetz
as one of his major influences in his career and his reason for procuring a job at RCA. He was offered a position as a reissue producer at RCA Victor/BMG
Classics in 1990 after demonstrating his vast knowledge of the Heifetz recordings, style and repertoire in an interview with RCA producer Jack Pfeiffer
. He was ultimately responsible for remastering and re-releasing over 1,000 classical music records in about just 10 years of his career at RCA.
in 1993 on this basis. Traditional Crossroads has been able to sponsor major US tours for dozens of international artists and the label has released over 150 albums. Hagopian continued working for RCA until 2002 despite the success of Traditional Crossroads.
The National Association of Record Distributors awarded Best String Recording of the Year to The Art of Taksim, the first recording by Traditional Crossroads. The Voice of Komitas Vardapet received a French archival restoration award and Night Silence Desert received the best world music album from the Association for Independent Music (AFIM) in 2001.
Biography
Hagopian is the son of oudOud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
virtuoso Richard Hagopian
Richard Hagopian
Richard Avedis Hagopian is an American Oriental-style oud player and traditional Armenian musician.Hagopian was born in Fowler, California. He has been a musician since childhood, learning to play the violin and clarinet at nine years old. He started playing the oud at age of 11...
. His paternal grandparents fled the 1915 Armenian Genocide and settled in California. He was raised on the family’s grape farm in Fresno where he discovered his love for music at a very young age. He was playing the drum along with his father at the age of 4 and continued his interest in music until he found his passion in violin playing at just 5 years old. Hagopian graduated from The Juilliard School in 1988 with a B.M. in classical violin.
Musician
During his undergraduate studies, Hagopian performed with the Juilliard orchestra. He also went to Russia where he practiced violin with local musicians in a Haydn quartet. In 1994, he performed with the Tulare County Symphony in California. The late Alan HovhanessAlan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
had written a violin concerto specifically for Hagopian, which he was able to premiere during a performance.
Hagopian also plays the kanun and clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, and has served as the director of the Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Music Ensemble (CMEME) at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
.
Hagopian has frequently accompanied his father, Richard Hagopian, in performances in the past. He has performed in a number of ensembles with prominent Balkan artists such as Yuri Yunakov. Hagopian is also a consultant to the Silk Road Project
Silk Road Project
Silk Road Project, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization, initiated by acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, promoting collaboration among artists and institutions, promoting multicultural artistic exchange, and studying the ebb and flow of ideas among different cultures along the Silk Road. The...
founded by Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
.
Business ventures
Hagopian is responsible for bringing the Heifetz violin mute back to prominence. He co-founded a company which manufactures and sells the mutes, which had been discontinued in the 1960s.Producer
After he completed his undergraduate study at Juilliard, Hagopian took a job at P.P.I. Recording in New York City in order to learn more about the recording industry. This job served as a launchpad for Harold to further his career. He often used the studio to make recordings during his personal time. Hagopian also made records with his father for the British Arc label and Smithsonian/Folkways.Hagopian cites Jascha Heifetz
Jascha Heifetz
Jascha Heifetz was a violinist, born in Vilnius, then Russian Empire, now Lithuania. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time.- Early life :...
as one of his major influences in his career and his reason for procuring a job at RCA. He was offered a position as a reissue producer at RCA Victor/BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
Classics in 1990 after demonstrating his vast knowledge of the Heifetz recordings, style and repertoire in an interview with RCA producer Jack Pfeiffer
John Pfeiffer
John "Jack" Pfeiffer , was a classical recording producer.-Life and career:Born in Tucson, Arizona, Pfeiffer studied music and engineering at the University of Arizona and Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas...
. He was ultimately responsible for remastering and re-releasing over 1,000 classical music records in about just 10 years of his career at RCA.
Traditional Crossroads
Hagopian used the same principles and techniques he had used in remastering and re-releasing classical music and applied them to world music. He founded Traditional Crossroads with Rounder RecordsRounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
in 1993 on this basis. Traditional Crossroads has been able to sponsor major US tours for dozens of international artists and the label has released over 150 albums. Hagopian continued working for RCA until 2002 despite the success of Traditional Crossroads.
Recognition
Hagopian’s works have been nominated for Grammys several times. His work on the Artur Rubinstein Collection later earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Historical Reissue. In addition, Hagopian received Grammy nominations for Fritz Kreisler: The Complete RCA Recordings and Gypsy Fire.The National Association of Record Distributors awarded Best String Recording of the Year to The Art of Taksim, the first recording by Traditional Crossroads. The Voice of Komitas Vardapet received a French archival restoration award and Night Silence Desert received the best world music album from the Association for Independent Music (AFIM) in 2001.