Anahit Tsitsikian

Anahit Tsitsikian died on May 2, 1999. The Anahit Cultural Foundation was established in the same year to continue her work and fulfill her dreams. The mission of the foundation is to facilitate the promotion of Armenian music by supporting musicians in their professional education and work, setting up and implementing cultural programs and events, and stimulating the integration of Armenian music within international music.

Tsitsikian was Merited Artist of Armenia or People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1967), PhD of Musical Science (1970) and Professor of Music (1982).

Anahit Tsitsikian was an Emeritus Artist of Armenia (1967), PhD of Musical Science (1970), and Professor of Music (1982). In 2004 a music school was named after her in Yerevan, Armenia.

She began performing professionally at elementary school age; her performances included many solo performances as well as with symphonic orchestras. Beginning in 1961 she was the principal soloist at the Armenian Philharmonic Hall. Tsitsikian performed throughout the Republics of the former Soviet Union and in 27 countries around the world. As a violinist she produced four vinyl discs under the Melodiya label. The music of modern Armenian composers held a special place in Ms. Tsitsikian’s repertoire. She was often the co-author, editor and first interpreter of their original pieces.

She taught at the Yerevan State Conservatory starting in 1950, and she established three new courses in its curriculum: history and theory of bowed instruments, history of Armenian performing arts, and course of music teaching practice.

She studied at the Yerevan State Conservatory from 1946 to 1950 as a student of Professor Karp Dombayev. She was granted the Stalin Scholarship. In 1954 she completed her graduate course at the Moscow State Conservatory (adviser - Professor Konstantin Mostras).

Anahit Tsitsikian (Armenian: Անահիտ Ցիցիկյան; born Leningrad, August 26, 1926; death Yerevan, May 2, 1999) was an Armenian female violinist. She toured around the world through more than 100 cities during the Soviet times; she taught at the State Conservatory for approximately 40 years and wrote more than 300 articles and scenarios for television and radio programs. She was also a scholar who established a new branch of Armenian musicology, history of performing art, and dedicated the last twenty years of her life to research in the field of ancient music history, becoming the founder of a new branch of Armenian musical archaeology.