Raisa Mkrtchyan, the celebrated singer and People’s Artist of Armenia, passed away at the age of 84.
This news was shared by Artur Ispiryan, the director of the Public Radio Archive and also a singer.
Raisa Mkrtchyan was born on February 25, 1942, in Sevan. She began her musical education at the Romanos Melikyan Musical College in Yerevan, followed by studies at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan.
From 1963 to 1968, she specialized in piano at the Komitas State Conservatory. Subsequently, from 1968 onwards, she was a soloist with the Armenian State Television and Radio Variety Orchestra. Starting in 2002, she also taught at the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan.
In addition to her academic pursuits, she participated in youth variety orchestras. She was among the first to perform songs composed by Arno Babajanian, Konstantin Orbelyan, Alexander Ajemian, Eduard Balyan, and Martin Vardazaryan, among other composers. Since 1968, she has been a soloist with the Television and Radio Variety Symphony Orchestra.
She recorded over 400 songs, many of which are preserved in the Golden Collection of Radio and Television archives. Additionally, she gave numerous concerts in cities worldwide.
In 2006, she was honored with the title of People’s Artist of the Republic of Armenia.
Her repertoire encompassed works by Konstantin Orbelyan, Arno Babajanian, Robert Amirkhanyan, Alexander Ajemian, Alexey Ekimyan, Melik Mavisakalyan, Nikolai Petrov, and other composers.
During her career, she received multiple state awards, including the Medal of the 1st Class for Services to the Homeland and the Movses Khorenatsi Medal.