conductor. Hovhannisyan was born in Yerevan. She graduated from the Department of Conducting at the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas, the class of Prof. R. Mangasaryan. In 1984-1989 Hovhannissyan was the conductor of two amateur choirs: “Hayren” and “Hallelujah”. Since 1995 Hovhannissyan has been a professor of conducting at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. In 1992 Sona Hovhannissyan founded her own choir named “Hover”, which was granted the status of a state choir in 2009. “Hover” State Chamber Choir has been laureate of numerous international choral contests and festivals. It has performed concerts in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, England, Russia, Slovenia, Baltic countries, Belgium, Lebanon, Poland, Switzerland, USA, and Taiwan. In 2007 Sona Hovhannissyan was granted the Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia. In 2012 the “Hover” State Chamber Choir was granted the Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its professional activity. The “Hover” state chamber choir has numerous diplomas and certificates of appreciation granted by a number of international festivals and organizations, as well as by the Office of the Mayor of Yerevan.
On the initiatives of Sona Hovhannissyan, the “Hover” Choir, has realized a number of experimental projects (“The Six Fables” – a choral performance, music by S. Babatorosyan, “The Parallel” – a choral theatrical performance, music by A. Azizyan, as well as series of Dance songs by Komitas). Conducted by Sona Hovhannissyan, the “Hover” State Chamber Choir has recorded seven CDs, which have won different awards (“The Six Fables” CD received the National Music Award of 2004 as “The best choral album” (USA). “The Parallel” choral performance CD received the award of “The best choral project” of 2009.
Sona Hovhannissyan has recorded soundtracks to several movies and theatrical performances (“Ararat”, “The Lark Farm”, “Tevanik”, ”The Last Refuge”, “The Tailless Monk”, “The Promise”, “Pepo”, “Namus”). Sona Hovhannissyan has appeared at a number of prestigious music halls: “Teatro Dal Verme” (Italy), “Тhéâtre Nanterre-Amandiers”, “Cité de la Musique”, “Le Quartz” (France), “Strathmore Hall”, “Carnegie Hall” (USA), the National Music Hall of Taiwan.
In cooperation with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Sona Hovhannissyan and “Hover” State Chamber Choir have performed a number of large-scale vocal-choral pieces and operas (“Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, “I Pagliacci”, “Madama Batterfly”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “Eugene Onegin”, “Anouche”, “Tosca”, “Artsvaberd”, “Ring of Fire”,“La Bohème”). In 2010 Sona Hovhannisyan was granted the title of “Honored Worker of Art” of the Republic of Armenia.