Vahagn Stepanyan

Armenian-born/California-based keyboardist, songwriter, and producer Vahagn Stepanyan is a versatile performer whose work straddles jazz, classical, and pop styles. Along with his numerous soundtrack and studio production credits, he hit the Top Ten of Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Chart with his 2023 solo album A New Chapter. Born in 1985 in Yerevan, Armenia, Stepanyan began playing music at age eight, taking classical piano lessons. As a teenager, he attended the music-oriented Yerevan Tchaikovsky High School and eventually earned his bachelor's degree in classical music from the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. After college, he embarked on a career composing, arranging, and recording for film soundtracks. He has also worked on numerous studio productions, collaborating with artists like Nathan East, Eric Marienthal, Danielle Withers, and Henrik Linder, as well as with engineers like Luke Pimentel, Evren Göknar, Lu Diaz, and Randy Merrill. As a keyboardist, he is a member of the Groove Project, an ongoing studio collaboration with a rotating cast of players including Arun Shenoy, Matthew Shell, Marcus Mitchell, and more. In 2023, he released a full-length album, A New Chapter, which featured guest appearances by saxophonist Dave Koz, Snarky Puppy guitarist Mark Lettieri, bassist Ida Nielsen, and others. It reached number five on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Charts. Also that year, he was credited as keyboardist and engineer on Kitt Wakeley's An Adoption Story which took home the Grammy for Best Classical Compendium Category. Other accolades include his winning two Grand Awards for Best Jazz Songs from the Akademia Music Awards for his compositions "Synergy: and "Motion." He was also nominated for a Hollywood Independent Music Awards in the Jazz category and picked up a 2023 Josie Awards nomination for Musician of the Year.
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