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Singer and People’s Artist of Armenia Raisa Mkrtchyan has died at the age of 84.
The news was announced by Artur Ispiryan, Director of the Public Radio Archive and a singer.
Raisa Mkrtchyan, a soloist with the Armenian State Television and Radio Variety Orchestra, was born on February 25, 1942, in the town of Sevan. She studied at the Romanos Melikyan Musical College in Yerevan and later at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan.
From 1963 to 1968, she studied at the piano department of the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. Since 1968, she had been a soloist with the Variety Orchestra of the Armenian State Committee for Television and Radio. Since 2002, she had also taught at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan.
Alongside her studies, she performed with youth variety orchestras. She was the first performer of songs composed by Arno Babajanian, Konstantin Orbelyan, Alexander Ajemian, Eduard Balyan, Martin Vardazaryan and other composers. From 1968, she was a soloist with the Television and Radio Variety Symphony Orchestra.
She recorded more than 400 songs, a significant number of which are preserved in the Golden Collection of the Radio and Television archives. She also performed in numerous concerts in cities around the world.
In 2006, she was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the Republic of Armenia.
Mkrtchyan’s repertoire included works by Konstantin Orbelyan, Arno Babajanian, Robert Amirkhanyan, Alexander Ajemian, Alexey Ekimyan, Melik Mavisakalyan, Nikolai Petrov and other composers.
Throughout her career, she received numerous state awards, including the 1st Class Medal for Services to the Homeland and the Movses Khorenatsi Medal.