Armen Ksajikian began his professional career at the age of twelve with the National Philharmonic of Abkhazia in the former Soviet Union.  Since his arrival in the United States in 1976, he has established himself as a vital contributor to nearly every aspect of the musical life of Los Angeles.  Ksajikian has performed as principal, soloist, or member of most music organizations in the Southland.  He has toured with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to New York and Europe, and with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra to Japan and Brazil.

In demand for music and cultural festivals, Ksajikian has appeared at the Colorado, Banff, Venice Film and Oregon Bach music festivals, among others.  In 2003, he performed Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional de Brasília at the Rio International Cello Encounter.  Ksajikian is a member of the adventurous Armadillo String Quartet, which was voted Best String Quartet (2004) by Los Angeles Magazine.  He is also a member of the Catgut Trio and the California String Quartet.

You can catch Ksajikian playing with numerous early and late-period ensembles or on TV in an unmistakable cameo as a character in Animaniacs.  Ksajikian has recorded hundreds of episodes of animated cartoons as a member of the Warner Brothers Studio Orchestra.  As a scoring musician he has over 900 motion picture soundtracks to his credit and has performed in the Academy Awards orchestra since 2004.  A shrewd casting director spotted Ksajikian on the Hollywood Bowl stage and hired him as the uzi-toting limousine driver in James Cameron’s “True Lie”s.  Ksajikian later recorded his own death scene when he was contracted for the orchestra that performed the score.

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