Alfred Roubenovich Terterian (by passport), Avet Terterian (in his biography as a composer) was born on July 29, 1929 in Baku, Azerbaijan. His parents were not professional musicians, but both of them had beautiful voices and had some training which allowed his father to perform as an opera singer, and his mother to appear in concert performances. The father, Rouben Terterian, a graduate of medical department of the Saratov University, was known in Baku as a practicing physician - laringologist.