The music of Armenia has its origins in the Armenian highlands, dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE, and is a long-standing musical tradition that encompasses diverse secular and religious, or sacred, music. Folk music was notably collected and transcribed by Komitas Vardapet, a prominent composer and musicologist, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who is also considered the founder of the modern Armenian national school of music. Armenian music has been presented internationally by numerous artists, such as composers Aram Khachaturian, Alexander Arutiunian, Arno Babajanian, Haig Gudenian, and Karen Kavaleryan as well as by traditional performers such as duduk player Djivan Gasparyan.
Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons was a Latvian conductor, best known for his interpretations of Mahler, Strauss, and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich. During his lifetime he was often cited as among the world's leading conductors; in a 2015 Bachtrack poll, he was ranked by music critics as the world's third best living conductor. Jansons was long associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as music director.
Soghomon Soghomonian, ordained and commonly known as Komitas, was an Armenian priest, musicologist, composer, arranger, singer, and choirmaster, who is considered the founder of the Armenian national school of music. He is recognized as one of the pioneers of ethnomusicology.
The culture of Armenia encompasses many elements that are based on the geography, literature, architecture, dance, and music of the Armenian people. Armenia is a majority Christian country in the Caucasus.
Bayerischer Rundfunk, shortened to BR, is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcasters in Germany.
Arto Tunchboyachyan is an Armenian American avant-garde folk and jazz multi-instrumentalist and singer of Armenian descent. He fronts his own group called the Armenian Navy Band, and is also a member of the instrumental quartet Night Ark.
Tabea Zimmermann is a German violist who has performed internationally, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has been artist in residence of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, Zimmermann founded the Arcanto Quartet, a string quartet that performed until 2016. Several composers have written music for her, including György Ligeti, and she has made her own version of Bartók's Viola Concerto from the composer's sketches.
Gevorg Gourgeni Dabaghyan is an Armenian duduk player of liturgical and folk music, born in Yerevan. In 1991 he founded the Shoghaken Folk Ensemble, a group of Armenian folk musicians and singers who specialize in traditional Armenian music.
The Shoghaken Folk Ensemble is an Armenian musical group that performs and records Armenian folk and ashugh (troubadour) music. The ensemble was founded in 1991 in Yerevan. It has since performed in various countries, including France, Germany, Estonia, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. In the US, they performed at an eighteen-concert 2004 tour and at the 2002 Folklife Festival as part of the Silk Road project organized by Yo-Yo Ma. The ensemble was also featured on the soundtrack to the Atom Egoyan film Ararat. In 2008, Shoghaken gave concerts during their second major tour of the US and Canada; the tour coincided with the release of the ensemble's latest CD, Shoghaken Ensemble: Music From Armenia.
Hasmik Harutyunyan is an Armenian folk singer. She is the leading member of the Shoghaken Folk Ensemble and directs the Hayrik Mouradian Traditional Song and Dance Children's Ensemble.
The Kissinger Sommer is a classical music festival held every year in the summer in the city of Bad Kissingen in Bavaria, Southern Germany.
The Munich Radio Orchestra is a German symphony broadcast orchestra based in Munich. It is one of the two orchestras affiliated with the Bavarian Radio, the other being the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
The Munich Chamber Orchestra is a German chamber orchestra based in Munich. Its primary concert venue is the Prinzregententheater, Munich. The MKO also gives concerts in Munich at such venues as the Pinakothek der Moderne and the Schwere Reiter, and at the Muffathalle during the Munich Biennale.
The ALEA Ensemble is a chamber music ensemble founded in 1988 in Graz for contemporary music, playing in variable formation including the ALEA Quartet.
Armenia TV, is one of the leading TV channels in Armenia. In 2012, Armenia TV became the first TV channel in Armenia to launch Full HD broadcasting. By the first half of 2020, Armenia TV was the highest rated among news, fiction movies, TV series, comedy, and music shows.
The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble based in Armenia was founded in 2008, and is led by the Armenian musician, Levon Eskenian. The Ensemble’s awards include the prestigious Dutch Edison Award: Best World Music Album 2012 and Armenian National Music Award: Best Folk Music Album 2011, for their album, “Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff,’’ produced by ECM Records. The ensemble consists of Armenia’s leading practitioners of traditional music performing on Duduk, Blul, Kamancha, Oud, Kanōn, Santur, Tar/Saz, Dap/Daf, Dhol, and Tombak. The repertoire is composed of the “mystic and spiritual teacher,” George I. Gurdjieff's Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, Arabic, Kurdish, Caucasian spiritual and folk music, authentically arranged for Eastern instruments by Eskenian. The repertoire also includes additional Eastern music that exemplifies Gurdjieff’s musical influences during his travels in the East.
The Moscow International Duduk Festival, MIDF is an international annual music festival of Armenian national musical instrument of Duduk held in Moscow.
Mkrtich Naghash was an Armenian painter, poet, and priest. He served as Archbishop of Diarbekr.
Wassily Gerassimez is a German cellist and composer.
Konstantía Gourzí is a Greek composer and conductor. She is professor of ensemble conducting and new music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.
