Tigran Mansurian
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Tigran Yeghiayi Mansurian (Armenian: Տիգրան Եղիայի Մանսուրյան; born January 27, 1939) is a leading Armenian composer of classical and film music, People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1990), and Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1984). He is the author of orchestral, chamber, choir, and vocal works which have been played across the world.
Mansurian was born in Beirut, Greater Lebanon on January 27, 1939. His family moved to the Armenian SSR in 1947 and settled in Yerevan in 1956, where he continued his education. He studied first at the Romanos Melikian Music School under the Armenian composer Edvard Baghdasaryan and later at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory.During his years of study, he wrote different works of varied genres and was awarded for some of them.
He taught modern music theory at the Conservatory from 1967 to 1986. He was the Rector of the Conservatory from 1992 to 1995.
An ECM album of Mansurian's music, Monodia, was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for "Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra)" and "Best Classical Contemporary Composition". In 2017, ECM's recording of Mansurian's Requiem was nominated for two Grammys. The Requiem received the Presidential Award of Armenia for its commemoration of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
On January 27, 2024, a concert of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra commemorating Mansurian's 85th birthday occurred at Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan. Included was his viola concerto, "...and then I was in time again", played by Sergey Poltavsky. The program concluded with excerpts of Mansurian's film music.
- Tigran Mansurian: String Quartets - Rosamunde Quartett (ECM 1905)
- Tigran Mansurian: "…and then I was in time again", Lachrymae, Confessing with Faith – Kim Kashkashian, viola; Jan Garbarek, soprano saxophone; The Hilliard Ensemble; Christoph Poppen, conductor; Münchener Kammerorchester. (CD ECM 1850/51)
- Tigran Mansurian: Havik, Duet for viola and percussion – Kim Kashkashian, viola; Robyn Schulkowsky, percussion; Tigran Mansurian, piano, voice. (CD ECM 1754)
- Tigran Mansurian: Quasi parlando - Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin; Anja Lechner [de], violoncello; Amsterdam sinfonietta; Candida Thompson. (ECM new series 2323)
- Tigran Mansurian: Con Anima - Kim Kashkashian, viola; Varty Manouelian, violin; Steven Vanhauwaert, piano; Moyses Pogossian. ECM 2687
- Tigran Mansurian: Konzerte - Liana Issakadze, violin; Ivan Monighetti, violoncello; Georgian Chamber Orchestra; Liana Issakadze. (Orfeo C 415 971 A)
Mansurian's compositions range from large scale orchestral works to individual art songs. He also composed ten film scores between 1968 and 1980. In 2017, a recording of Mansurian's Requiem, dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, was released by ECM. Mansurian's film music is melody, lyricism, and greatly contributes to the completion of the film's artistic description.



