Krikor Azaryan(1934-2009)

Krikor Azaryan was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on March 14, 1934. He is Bulgarian director of Armenian origin. He graduated in "theater directing" at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria in 1966, then he specialized in Moscow and Leningrad. He has worked many years in the Bulgarian Army's Theater, and also - in National Theater, Satire Theater, Theater "Sofia", Plovdiv Drama Theater, in theaters in Moscow, Bitola, Warsaw and others. He was a Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Theater's Directors. Unforgettable in the history of Bulgarian theater have remained his plays by Chekhov, performances "January" and "Learning to Fly" by Yordan Radichkov, "Twelfth Night" and "King Lear" by Shakespeare, "The Diary of a Madman" by Gogol, "West Side Story" by Lourands and Lehman, "Oil", "Hike" and "Ball lightning" by Ivan Radoev, "From the Earth to the Sky 'by Nikola Rusev, "Case" from Suhovo-Kobilin, "Last Entry" by Beckett, "Suicide" by Erdman, "Henry IV" by Pirandello, "Barrel of Gunpowder" by D. Dukovski, ""Belgrade's trilogy" by B. Srbljanovic, "Bay of Fleas" and "Do you Sell Demons?" by Boyan Papazov, "A Streetcar Named Desire" by T. Williams, "Pathways" by Nikolai Hajtov and many others. Thirty years he had taught acting and directing in National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2005 he was removed from the Academy and he had retired. Then he went to teach at the New Bulgarian University, where he was a professor emeritus. The students of Professor Azaryan are stars of the theater: Vladimir Lyutskanov, Marius Kurkinski, Peter (Chocho) Popyordanov, Valentin Tanev, Kamen Donev, Stefan Valdobrev, Reni Vrangova, Galin Stoev, Koyna Ruseva, Stefka Yanorova, Liliya Abadzhieva, Anastasya Ingilizova ... His assistants in Theatre Academy were Todor Kolev and Ivan Dobchev. IKrikor Azaryan had won all Bulgarian theater awards. He was awarded with an honorary Theater Award "Asker" . He died on December 14, 2009 in Sofia, Bulgaria.