Armenag Chah-Mouradian

Armenian singer (1878-1939). Born in Moush in the then-Ottoman part of Armenia, Armenag Shah-Mouradian became soloist in the church choir of the Kevorkian Seminary in Echmiadzin, the headquarters of the Armenian Orthodox Church in what was then Russian territory. There he met and studied with the monk Gomidas, the “father” of modern Armenian classical music; later, Shah-Mouradian became the best-known interpreter of Gomidas' compositions. Further training brought him to Tiflis where he became familiar with classical European opera. Because of his involvement with the Armenian revolutionary movement, Shah-Mouradian soon had to flee to Paris where he became a professional operatic tenor at the Paris Grand Opera. During a tour of the United States in 1917-1918, Shah-Mouradian cut sixteen 78-rpm recordings of Armenian patriotic, folk, and liturgical music for Columbia Records in New York. He died in Paris in 1939.