Biografie
Houry Dora Apartian, 1976
She was born and raised in Aleppo, Syria. She is of Armenian Origins.Her father Barkev, a pastor and classical singer/composer, and her mother Suzan, a classical pianist, and a dedicated mother and a community member, have always encouraged their children to cultivate themselves in various arts. Her sister Shoghag studied music in the U.S. and became a pianist and composer in Syria and later in Holland, and her brother a professional painter and graphist in Paris. At the age of 16, Houry Dora moves to Beirut, Lebanon, to finish her High School Studies at Shamlian Tatigian, after which she starts her studies at the University of Haigazian, majoring in Psychology. Sadly, she has to interrupt her studies and return home to be with her family during his illness.
Her years in Beirut gives her many opportunities to perform with several choirs, and bands, and 1992 she becomes a member of the Nor Yerk Armenian Youth Worship Band, with which she records 7 albums, and tours around the world till 2005. (Currently, the members of the band live in different countries, but occasionally, they reunite for tours, cultural events and recordings).
After the Passing of her Father, she decides to stay a little longer in Aleppo to be with her mourning Mother and family members, during which she attempts to put her dreams behind her, and concentrate on her actual life in Aleppo, and profiting from the musical opportunities granted to her in her hometown. But through her Mother’s encouragement, and for the memory of her Father, she starts to plan her musical career and studies abroad.
Convinced by the encouragement of her brother, Dibasar, a professional artist, and his family, in Paris, in October 1998, she decides to pay a visit to them, during which she applies and gets accepted to further her musical studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris-Alfred Cortot (Paris, France). There, she has the privilege to study 2 intensive years under Miss Elizabeth Rogier in classical singing, in parallel to 4 years of jazz improvisation studies in the Cim-Infimm school of jazz. The time in Paris opens her many doors, and the jazz school years win her the respect and admiration of her professors and fellow jazz musicians. Amongst the tutors and
professors, she always remains grateful to are Brad Wheeler, Philip Baudoin, Frederic Favarel, Claude Gastaldin, Pierre Carrie, Arnaud Fournier, Tito “Ernesto” Puente, and many other talented and exquisite musicians of the French jazz scene. Her student years remain a delightful memory, not only because of the enlightenment she receives but the honor she treasures to have performed with several musicians and groups like Marc Fosset (Stephane Grapelli’s guitarist), the S. Mos Quintet (the multiple-winners of the “French jazz young talent” prizes, and the EFPITY jazz Octet by Franck Sanchez. One of the highlights of them all remains her performance with her Quartet at the great Michel Petrucciani commemoration ceremony at the “Mairie du 18eme de Paris in 2003.
After her graduation at Cim-Infimm, Houry moves back home, where she can reunite with her Mother and family and can contribute to her community’s music education program and cultural development. Fortunately, that commitment does not hinder her from traveling, touring, recording, and performing with several local and foreign professionals. For two years she teaches solfege, harmony and vocal training at the AGBU music conservatory in Aleppo. In 2005, during a Swiss- Syrian Jazz Festival organized by the Swiss Embassy of Syria, she meets Oliver Friedli, a talented and very well reputed young Jazz pianist and composer from Basel, and the musical cooperation starts immediately. Within a year of friendship, in 2007 the couple decides to marry and move to Basel, where they found their first band together “Hekiat- Armenian Stories”. From that point on, their cooperation extends to their own musical projects as well as projects of fellow musicians in and around the country
At the present, Houry works regularly in Switzerland and around, performing and producing with her husband Oliver, also with the Houry D. Apartian Quintet, Hekiat- Armenian Stories, as well as other cooperation with Swiss Jazz Orchestra, Jonas Winterhalter Big Band, Modus Quartet, Patrick Sommer Trio, Daniel Woodtli Trio, Philipp Moll Trio, and a few more.
M.W.N 2017
Publikationen / Diskografie / Ausstellungen / Werke
Hekiat- Armenian Stories (TCM Records 2008)
The Day Will Come (self-production 2013)
Anticipation (unit Records 2019)
and a few more...