Armenian People's Artist Raisa Mkrtchyan dies at 84

Raisa Mkrtchyan, an Armenian People's Artist whose career spanned decades and whose recordings became part of the country's cultural heritage, has died at the age of 84.

Mkrtchyan was awarded the honorary title of People's Artist of Armenia and received the Movses Khorenatsi Medal as well as the First Degree Order for Services to the Homeland in recognition of her contributions to Armenian culture.

Born in 1942, she studied piano at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan from 1963 to 1968. Upon graduating, she joined the Armenian State Television and Radio Committee's Estrada Orchestra as a soloist, a position she held beginning in 1968. In 2002, she joined the faculty of the Komitas State Conservatory, where she taught future generations of musicians.

Over the course of her career, Mkrtchyan recorded more than 400 songs, many of which are preserved in the Armenian Radio and Television Golden Collection. She performed extensively in Armenia and abroad, appearing at renowned venues including New York's Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall, as well as concert halls in Sydney, Montreal, Beirut and Buenos Aires.

Her repertoire featured works by some of Armenia's and the former Soviet Union's most celebrated composers, including Konstantin Orbelyan, Arno Babajanian, Robert Amirkhanyan, Alexander Ajemian, Alexey Ekimyan, Melik Mavisakalyan, Nikolai Petrov and Murad Kajlayev.