Loris Haykasi [Loris] Tjeknavorian -also Cheknavarian- (13/10/1937) an Iranian-Armenian composer, born in Broudjerd. After he had studied violin and piano at the Tehran Conservatory of Music, he studied composition at the Vienna Music Academy where, in 1961, he graduated with honors. Shortly after his graduation four of his piano compositions and his ballet Fantastique for tree pianos, Celeste and percussion were published by Doeblinger in Vienna. From 1961 to 1963 Tjeknavorian taught music theory at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. At the same time, he was appointed director of the National Music Archives in Tehran and was in charge of collecting and researching traditional Iranian folk -music and national instruments. In 1963, back in Austria, Prof. Carl Orff granted him a scholarship, which allowed him to reside in Salzburg and to complete his opera "Rostam and Sohrab".