Co-founder of rock band Queen Brian May to pay first visit to Armenia

Co-founder of rock band Queen, musician, singer, songwriter, astrophysicist and photographer Dr. Brian May has confirmed his participation in the Starmus VI festival to be held in Armenia on September 5-10.

The festival founded by Garik Israelian and Brian May will host more than 50 speakers – Nobel laureates, astronauts, scientists, world-renowned artists and music stars.

Brian May is best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen, and for the popular hits such as such as We Will Rock You, The Show Must Go On, Tie Your Mother Down, I Want It All, Too Much Love Will Kill You, Hammer to Fall, Save Me and Who Wants to Live Forever. Dr. May is also known as an astrophysicist and science communicator. In 2020, Total Guitar magazine named him the best guitarist of all time.

Although in 1988 Brian May played a significant role in the Rock Aid Armenia campaign, during which he personally invited many world stars (such as David Gilmore, Tony Iommi) to join and support the project, he has never been to Armenia.

In 1998, Dr. Brian May met one of the world’s leading astrophysicists, Dr. Garik Israelian of the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics. Years later, in 2007, Israel helped May complete his PhD in astrophysics at Imperial College London.

Brian May and Garik Israelian’s friendship led to the collaboration with Armenian duduk legend Jivan Gasparyan. In 2005 they performed an exclusive “once-in-a-lifetime” joint performance in Tromsø, Norway at the concert dedicated to Nelson Mandela.