Arie Dakesian is a second-year undergraduate student at the Royal College of Music. He studies classical guitar with world-famous guitarists Gary Ryan and Christopher Stell.

Arie grew up in Beirut, Lebanon where he received his musical education at the Parsegh Ganachian Music School and graduated with Very High Distinction in 2019. He has performed countless times all over Lebanon, and has also participated in different international competitions, one of them being the “Renaissance” International Festival held in Gyumri, Armenia, where he was awarded the First Prize. Arie is currently a recipient of the prestigious “Houston Family” Scholarship at the RCM as well as a grant-holder of different Armenian scholarship funds, including the Benlian Trust.

To give you a greater insight into the worth of our Instrument Purchase Grants, we made a short film with Arie in which you can hear him play and tell his story.