Education
He studied under Lev Naumov and at the Moscow Conservatory under Vera Gornostayeva and Mikhail Pletnev.
He studied under Lev Naumov and at the Moscow Conservatory under Vera Gornostayeva and Mikhail Pletnev.
Babayan began his musical studies at age six with Luisa Markaryan. In 1989, he traveled to the United States. His programming often includes Romantic composers such as Rachmaninoff, and modern works by composers such as Witold Lutosławski, György Ligeti, Carl Vine and Arvo Päroute
He is also recognized for his prominent interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach.
He frequently appears as a soloist with such orchestras as The National Orchestra of Belgium, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Italian Symphony Orchestra of Brescia & Bergamo, and the Czechoslovakian State Philharmonic. Babayan has collaborated with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Järvi, Hans Graf, David Robertson, Kazimierz Kord and Michael Christie.
He has recorded with the Connoisseur Society label, Discover Records and Pro Piano Records. In 1996, Babayan founded the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he is also an Artist-in-Residence.
In 2015 Babayan performed two Prokofiev concertos at British Broadcasting Corporation Proms with Valery Gergiev and London Symphony Orchestra.