Karen has been greeted with great delight in St. Petersburg and Briansk, Pskov and Izhevsk, Samara, Cheboksary, Nal'chik, Dubna, and Omsk.

Karen has successfully toured Poland, Germany, France, Israel, the US, Spain, and Italy. Critics unanimously assert, "No matter what Karen plays, his interpretation sets itself apart with a refined but strict taste, a profound penetration into the philosophy of the performed piece."

The Art Director of the Irkutsk Philharmonic, with a PhD in Art History, Marina Tokarskaya, commented in the following way on Karen Shakhgaldyan's concerts at the Festival of Symphonic Music in Memory of Y.I. Iankelevich in 1998:

"...The manner in which Karen Shakhgaldyan performs may be characterized by his inherently brilliant technical skills and keen sense of detail, based on a good understanding of style; that is, particularly that authentic tradition of performance that allows one to forget about virtuosity, undoubtedly present but taking a backseat to the integrity of the musical conception, the comprehension of the treatment of the piece.

...Without a doubt, it was Karen Shakhgaldyan's stage charm that aroused such an enthusiastic reaction from the public; a sensation of a true celebration comes from contact with".