Tigran Mansourian

Tigran Mansurian was born in 1939 in Beirut to Armenian parents. They returned to Yerevan in 1947. Widely regarded as Armenia’s leading composer, Mansurian taught at the Komitas-State Conservatory from 1960, and was its director from 1990, a position he soon relinquished to concentrate exclusively on writing music. His oeuvre includes vocal, chamber and orchestral works. In 2003 ECM released “Hayren” (ECM New Series 1754) with music of Komitas and Mansurian played by Kim Kashkashian, Robyn Schulkowsky and Mansurian himself on the piano, followed in 2004 by “Monodia“ (ECM New Series 1850/51), a double album of Mansurian’s music featuring Kashkashian, Jan Garbarek, Leonidas Kavakos, the Hilliard Ensemble and the Munich Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Christoph Poppen.