Tigran Mansurian

Tigran Mansurian was born in January 27, 1939 in Beirut. After early study at the Yerevan Music Academy, he completed the PhD at the Komitas State Conservatory. He's one of Armenia's leading composers, establishing strong creative relationships with international performers and composers such as Silvestrov, Pärt, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Volkonsky, Denisov, and with performers such as N. Gutman, O. Kagan, K. Georgian, and later with Kim Kashkashian and Eduard Brunner. Mansurjan’s work includes orchestral works, seven concertos for string instruments and orchestra, sonatas for violoncello and piano, three string quartets, choral music, chamber music, and works for solo instruments. In the course of time he developed an increasingly simple and almost liturgical kind of style. He attained to a terse and economical mode of expression which combines ancient and modern elements. Mansurjan’s music reflects the heritage of the ancient traditional roots music of Armenia, which dates back more than a thousand years and ranges from the melodies of mediaeval ecclesiastical chant to specific scalar systems and musical forms. Mansurjan’s music is quite lyrical. And the lyrical images of his music possess a suggestive power which nevertheless makes it sound emotional. Armenian name characters: Տիգրան Մանսուրյան [Armenian] Name also transcripted as: Tigran Mansourian [French fonetic transcription] Tigran Mansurjan [German fonetic transcription] Prof. Tigran Mansurian, 56 Teryan St., Apt. 14, 375009 Yerevan, Armenia