Ara Dinkjian (Ud)
Ara Dinkjian was born in New Jersey in 1958 and graduated from the Hartt College of Music with America's first and only degree in the ud. He has recorded four CDs for RCA/BMG and Universal/PolyGram with his group Night Ark and has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Mr. Dinkjian's compositions have been recorded by top singers throughout the world in eleven different languages. In Turkey alone, singers such as Sezen Aksu, Kibariye, Mine Kosan, and Coskun Sabah have all recorded his songs. Most recently, Mr. Dinkjian was chosen as one of twelve of the world's top ud players to participate in the First International Meeting of the Ud in Thessaloniki, Greece.