Edvard Mirzoyan
Award-winning Armenian neoclassical composer Edvard Mik'aeli Mirzoyan was born at Gori in Georgia on 12 May 1921, into a family of musicians, and began composing at twelve. He studied in Yerevan, graduated from Komitas State Conservatory and studied further in Moscow.
Mirzoyan was professor of composition at Komitas State Conservatory and, from 1956 until 1991, president of the Armenian Composers' Union.
His style was tonal, formal, intense and dramatic, and used Armenian folksong.
He died on 5 October 2012, aged ninety-one, leaving, sadly, a rather small output of compositions. Renowned in Armenia and Russia, a few of his works - including the Symphony for Strings and Timpani (1962), Epitaph for String Orchestra and his string quartet 'Theme and Variations' (1947) and cello sonata (1967) - have been taken up internationally.