He was born in Tehran, Iran and later moved to Soviet Armenia.
He completed the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory in 1941 and since 1944 taught there.
[3] He authored several important works on the Armenian system of musical notation called khaz.
[4] He spent almost thirty years researching Komitas's work and was the main editor of the Collected Works of Komitas in fourteen volumes (Yerevan, 1960-2006).
He is recognized as the foremost authority of Komitas's art.