Avedisian to Talk about Education in Armenia

WATERTOWN, Mass.—On Mon., Jan. 2, Edward Avedisian, a private investor and former member of the Boston Pops, will be the featured speaker at the dinner meeting of the St. James Armenian Church Men’s Club in Watertown. The topic will be “Education in Armenia: Is the glass half full or half empty”?

Avedisian’s professional career spans several disciplines, as a performing symphonic musician, a teacher at the university level, an artistic administrator, an investor, and philanthropist. He recently resigned after 35 years of service as a clarinetist with the Boston Pops and 43 seasons with the Boston Ballet Orchestra. He has held posts in the Atlanta Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Boston Opera Co., Boston Lyric Opera, and Harvard Chamber Orchestra. In addition to his solo appearances in the U.S., he has concertized with the Armenian Philharmonic, the Armenian Radio and Television Orchestra, and the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, and was visiting artist to Boston’s sister city of Hangzhou, China, in 1998. He was appointed a Fromm Fellow for contemporary music performance at Tanglewood under the direction of Aaron Copland and received the American National Theater Academy Award for his performances in Europe.

Avedisian was an adjunct professor of music at Boston University and a lecturer at Endicott College, and served for two years as a panelist for the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts, which makes determinations for Presidential Scholars in the Arts. He was also artistic administrator of the Harvard Chamber Orchestra, a professional resident orchestra at Harvard University, and served as orchestra committee chairman with both the Lake George Opera Festival and the Boston Ballet Orchestras, where he wrote and successfully negotiated the first union contracts for both organizations. He also has served as orchestra personnel manager for tours of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra.

Edward Avedisian has also been active as a private investor, and has established endowments and award grants to a number of non-profit organizations. At the American University of Armenia (AUA), he was the lead sponsor of the new 100,000 sq. ft. Paramaz Avedisian Building and was appointed to the recent Presidential Search Committee for AUA by C. Judson King, a former provost of the University of California and present chair of the AUA Board of Trustees. He founded and sponsored both the Koren and Shooshanig Avedisian K-12 School in Malatia-Sepastia, Armenia, and served as chairman of the AUA-Nork Marash Children’s Cardiac Hospital Project, where open heart surgeries are performed free for children in Armenia. Avedisian also serves as trustee for the AUA and the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA). As a member of the Friends of the American University of Armenia, his contributions in Armenia include a complete renovation of the high school in Haghtanag village and the installation of lights at the Dzidzernagapert Armenian Genocide Memorial.

Avedisian was born in 1937 in Pawtucket, R.I., where he attended school and served as president of his graduating class. He furthered his education on a scholarship to Boston University where he earned his BM and MM degrees. He also received an RCA scholarship for advanced orchestral training at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

His extracurricular activities include collecting vintage photographs and restoring antique automobiles.

The social hour starts with mezza at 6:15 p.m., followed by a complete losh kebab and kheyma dinner at 7 p.m. Admission is $12 per person. The event will be held at the St. James Armenian Church, Charles Mosesian Cultural and Youth Center, Keljik Hall, 465 Mt. Auburn St. Ladies are welcome.