DETROIT, MI - The Wayne State Orchestra is honoring world-renowned composer Aram Khachaturian on Monday, October 27, 2003. In celebration of his 100th birthday the WSU Orchestra, under the direction of Kypros Markou, will be performing works by the composer. The concert is being held at 7 p.m. in Community Arts Auditorium located on Wayne's campus at 5451 Cass Ave. and Kirby. Admission to the concert is $3 for students and seniors and $5 for adults. For more information call (313) 577-1795 or visit Department of Music.

In 2003, the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared it the year of Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian. Such an honor is given to those of outstanding personalities that have made remarkable contributions to the world's culture and arts. Khachaturian earned this prestigious honor with his unique and historical contributions to music. His musical creations gained respect and recognition for Armenian music, becoming an original part of the universal world of music.

Khachaturian's accomplishments are reflected in the music of all the schools of composing in the world. Born in a small village of Armenia, his compositions are deeply rooted in its people, arts and culture, but his works are also embedded in the musical classics of Europe and Russia. Relocating to Moscow at the age of eighteen, Aram was exposed to a world of creative opportunities and quickly enrolled himself in the Gnesin's School of Music. His graduate studies in composition led him to the Moscow Conservatory, and the pieces he created there are still as fresh and original as the day he composed them. He wrote chamber pieces, the score to Shakespeare's Macbeth, and "Piano Concerto," a masterfully created work that earned him worldwide fame while still a student at the Conservatory.

Khachaturian composed many works, including scores for movies and plays. His "Concerto for Piano" and "Concerto for Violin" earned him worldwide recognition. Like many other composers of his time, he found musical inspiration during World War II, composing his "Symphony No. 2" (Symphony with Bells). His "Symphony No. 3" was written in 1947 in celebration of the victory. In 1956, he completed Spartacus, undoubtedly his best-known work. This masterpiece earned accolades such as "feast of music" and once again earned the composer worldwide acclaim. His passing in 1978, just one month before his 75th birthday, prevented him from composing the opera he had intended.

The WSU Orchestra proudly presents this concert in celebration of the composer's everlasting gift of emotional, poetic and colorful music. The featured work on the program will be the "Masquarade Suite." Also being performed are works by other Eastern European composers such as Prokofief and Bartok.

Wayne State University Department of Music is celebrating 85 years of artistic and academic excellence. The Department's faculty includes renowned jazz artists, composers, scholars, educators and members of the internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra. WSU alumni have gone on to careers in distinguished orchestras, ensembles and as soloists and music educators the world over.