Armenian composer Aram Ilich Khachaturian (1903-1978) is best known for two works: Piano Concerto (1936) and the ballet Gayane (1942), which includes the popular and rhythmic Sabre Dance. His compositions incorporate the folk tunes of his native Armenia and other parts of Russia.

Aram Khachaturian was born on June 6, 1903, in the Armenian community of Tiflis, Georgia, Russian Empire (later part of the U.S.S.R. and now Tbilisi in the Republic of Georgia). Music was not on his mind at the Tiflis Commercial School where he debated between a career in medicine or engineering. In 1920, however, Georgia became part of the new Soviet Union. The following year, Khachaturian, then 17, went to Moscow with his oldest brother, Suren, who was director of the Moscow Art Theater. Like his brother, Khachaturian Russianized name to Khachaturov, which he used for a period of 18 years. Influenced by his brother's work in Moscow, Khachaturian...