Dan Yessian

Dan Yessian (,) (born September 5, 1944) is an American producer, musician, composer, arranger, woodwind musician and keyboardist. In 1971, he founded Yessian Music Inc., a music and sound design production company. Yessian received a Distinguished Achievement Award at the 2016 Detroit Music Awards.

Yessian is of Armenian ancestry. The documentary and musical composition "An Armenian Trilogy" featured on PBS His work was performed live by the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Yerevan, Armenia. Michael, Dan and Brian Yessian in Armenia during the LIVE performance of original music featured in Dan Yessian's documentary, "An Armenian Trilogy".

Career Yessian graduated from Wayne State University in 1967. Yessian taught speech and English for four years at Detroit's Redford High School; he left his career in education to pursue a music career. He worked for the Electric Company.

In the 1980s, Yessian met songwriter David Barrett (Composer "One Shining Moment") with whom he composed numerous songs, including a collaboration with Kenny Watson on "I See Wings," a song written for Yessian's documentary and symphonic work "An Armenian Trilogy". In 2006, Yessian purchased Burt Bacharach's piano, on which he wrote numerous music compositions including classical pieces featured in "An Armenian Trilogy".

Since the 1990s, Brian and Michael Yessian have led Yessian Music, an international music production company with locations in Michigan, New York City, Los Angeles, and Europe. Yessian Music's work also includes sound production for "Sunday Night Football," "America's Got Talent," and "The Voice".

Yessian Music won numerous awards in the advertising and television industry. In 2018, Yessian was inducted into the Adcraft Hall of Fame in Detroit, receiving a lifetime achievement award for his work in the advertising industry.

An Armenian Trilogy Yessian created "An Armenian Trilogy," a documentary and 22-minute symphonic music piece in honor of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, in which 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered. Said Yessian, "When my Armenian church priest Father Garabed Kochakian asked me to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, it proved to be a life changing request [...] I discovered the path my ancestors had taken during this dark time and I began to tell their story through music, and ultimately film." Yessian worked with arranger and pianist Kurt Schreitmueller, and the pair composed the first iteration of a duet for violin and piano. It debuted in 2015 at Macomb Center for Performing Arts, featuring musicians Sonia Lee and Shawn McDonald.