B I O

Hagop Kharatian was born in Yerevan, Armenia. He received his training at the Yerevan Ballet Academy, Vagonova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg and the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC where he trained under his father, Roudolf Kharatian. He is presently a principal dancer with Milwaukee Ballet. He has also danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Hartford Ballet, Washington Ballet, and guested with Indianapolis Ballet Theater, the Sarasota Ballet of Florida, Ballet Met, and the Los Angeles Classical Ballet. He is a permanent principal guest artist with Arka Ballet in Washington DC.

A most versatile dancer, he maintains a busy schedule as a guest artist, appearing in numerous galas such as the Gala Tribute to Kolpakova (1995), "Encore", "Encore ‘97, and the Spoleto Festival 2000. In October 1996, he was featured in Kennedy Center’s 25th Anniversary celebration "Suzanne Farrell Stages Balanchine." Kharatian has also danced with such ballerinas as Leslie Brown, Maria Calegari and Helene Alexopoulos. He has also appeared on PBS in Alonzo King’s Map for the September 11th Relief fund, and will be featured on PBS in a documentary about Anna Karenina in February 2003.

His repertoire includes leading roles in: Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Le Corsaire, Nutcracker, Diana and Acteon, Spectre de la Rose, L’Apres-Midi d’un Faune, Andre Prokovsky’s Anna Karenina, Balanchine’s Apollo, Prodigal Son, Tzigane, Monumentum/Movements, and Valse Fantasie, Nacho Duato’s Duende, Simon Dow’s Galileo, Camille, Wolfgang Dance and About to Fall, Anthony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire, Nils Christe’s Before Nightfall, William Forsythe’s Approximate Sonata, Mark Godden’s Angels in the Architecture, Alonzo King’s Map, Fernand Nault’s Nutcracker and Carmina Burana, James Kudelka’s Desir, Choo San Goh’s Fives and Momentum, Graham Lustig’s Transit and Evening, Roudolf Kharatian’s A Room, Amadeus, Dialogue and Echos, Bach's Passion, and many others.