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.[1][2]
Biography
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.[3] He studied first at the Romanos Melikian Music School under the Armenian composer Edvard Baghdasaryan and later at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory.[4][5] 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".[6] In 2017, ECM's recording of Mansurian's Requiem was nominated for two Grammys.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
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 Anja Lechner, violonchello; 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
Works
Mansurian in 2014
Mansurian's compositions range from large scale orchestral works to individual art songs. He also composed several film scores between 1968 and 1980.[10] In 2017, a recording of Mansurian's Requiem, dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, was released by ECM.[11] Mansurian's film music is melody, lyricism, and greatly contributes to the completion of the film's artistic description.[clarification needed]
Stage
The Snow Queen (ballet in two acts with a scenario by Vilen Galstyan, after the story by Hans Christian Andersen), 1989
Orchestral
Concerto, for organ and small orchestra, 1964
Partita, for large orchestra, 1965
Music for Twelve Strings, 1966
Preludes, for large orchestra, 1975
To the Memory of Dmitry Shostakovich, for cello and large orchestra, 1976
Canonical Ode, for harp, organ and 2 string orchestras, 1977
Concerto No. 2, for cello and string orchestra, 1978
Double Concerto, for violin, cello and string orchestra, 1978
Tovem, for small orchestra, 1979
Nachtmusik, for large orchestra, 1980
Because I Do Not Hope (in memory of Igor Stravinsky), for small orchestra, 1981
Concerto, for violin and string orchestra, 1981
Concerto No. 3, for cello and small orchestra, 1983
Postludio Concerto, for clarinet, cello, string orchestra, 1993
Concerto, for viola and string orchestra, 1995
Fantasy, for piano and string orchestra, 2003
Concerto No. 2 (Four Serious Songs) for violin and string orchestra, 2006
Concerto No. 4 (Ubi est Abel frater tuus?) for cello and small orchestra, 2010
Romance for violin and string orchestra, 2011
Quasi parlando for cello and string orchestra, 2012
