Mary Kouyoumdjian

Mary Kouyoumdjian (born 1983)[1] is an Armenian-American composer and documentarian based in Brooklyn, NY. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2024 for her work Paper Pianos[2] and was nominated for Best Opera Recording for her album Adoration at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in 2026.[3]

Early life and education

Kouyoumdjian was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and grew up there.[4] She is a first generation Armenian-American from a family directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide.[5] Kouyoumdjian studied at University of California, San Diego (B.A. in Music Composition); New York University with a focus on Scoring for Film & Multimedia (M.A.);[6] and Columbia University (D.M.A.[7] and M.A.).[8] Primary teachers include Zosha Di Castri, Georg Friedrich Haas, Fred Lerdahl, George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, Steven Kazuo Takasugi, Anthony Davis, Steven Schick, and Chinary Ung.[9]

Career

Kouyoumdjian has been commissioned by Bang on a Can,[10] Carnegie Hall,[11] the Kronos Quartet,[12] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[13] New York Philharmonic,[14] OPERA America,[15] and many others. Her work has been recorded by artists such as The Merian Ensemble (members of the Atlanta Symphony),[16] Kronos Quartet,[17] and violist Noémie Chemali.[18]

A co-founder of New Music Gathering,[19] Kouyoumdjian also served as the founding Executive Director of contemporary music ensemble Hotel Elefant,[20] and Co-Artistic Director of Wild Shore New Music.[21]

Kouyoumdjian is Composition Faculty at The New School[22] and the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University.[23] Kouyoumdjian has previously served on faculty at Boston Conservatory at Berklee,[8] Brooklyn College's Feirstein School of Cinema,[24] Columbia University,[25] Mannes Prep,[26] and the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program.[27]

Kouyoumdjian is published by PSNY (Project Schott New York).[28]

Concert music

  • Paper Pianos was premiered by Alarm Will Sound at EMPAC in Troy, N.Y. on February 25, 2023.[29] The work was recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2024.[30] The Pulitzer committee described the work as, "a socially urgent multi-media work that boldly melds music and audio documentary with first-person stories of refugees, exploring how music serves as solace and inspiration under conditions of displacement."[2]
  • Kouyoumdjian's opera, Adoration, premiered with LA Opera in 2025.[4]
  • WITNESS, Kouyoumdjian's project with Kronos Quartet draws from stories of genocide, civil war, and loss.[31] The project was developed over a decade of collaboration between the composer and quartet.[32]

Music for film

Kouyoumdjian has also worked as a composer, orchestrator, and music editor for film. Selected projects include:

  • Writing an original score for An Act of Worship (Capital K Pictures and PBS’s POV Docs),[33] which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.
  • Orchestrating the soundtrack to The Place Beyond the Pines (Focus Features).[34]

Discography

  • Adoration (Live) (2025)
  • WITNESS (2025)
  • 2 Suitcases (2024)

References

  1. ^ "PSNY: Mary Kouyoumdjian Biography". www.eamdc.com. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  2. ^ a b "Finalist: Paper Pianos, by Mary Kouyoumdjian". wwwtst9.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  3. ^ "| Artist | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  4. ^ a b Jacobs, Tom (2025-02-11). "Bringing Atom Egoyan's Adoration to the Opera Stage". www.sfcv.org. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  5. ^ Ingalls, Chris (2025-04-01). "Kronos Quartet Create a Haunting Interpretation of War and Loss » PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  6. ^ Cook, Amanda (2024-03-05). "Composer Mary Kouyoumdjian Meets Discomfort with Empathy". I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. Archived from the original on 2025-02-12. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  7. ^ "Dr. Mary Kouyoumdjian Defends Dissertation | COLUMBIA | MUSIC". music.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-12-09. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  8. ^ a b "Mary Kouyoumdjian | Boston Conservatory at Berklee". bostonconservatory.berklee.edu. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  9. ^ "Mary Kouyoumdjian | COLUMBIA | MUSIC". music.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 2024-11-09. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  10. ^ "June 2021 Marathon — Bang on a Can Live". Bang on a Can Live. Archived from the original on 2024-04-14. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  11. ^ Dunn, Arlene & Larry (2015-05-08). "5 Questions to Mary Kouyoumdjian (composer)". I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. Archived from the original on 2025-07-07. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  12. ^ "New Kronos Quartet album to donate streaming proceeds to charity". The Strad. Archived from the original on 2025-03-21. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  13. ^ "Metropolitan Museum of Art to present world premiere of 'They Will Take My Island'". The Armenian Weekly. 2021-01-08. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  14. ^ Gottschalk, Kurt (2024-05-24). "Sound On for contemporary works with the New York Philharmonic". bachtrack.com. Archived from the original on 2024-05-14. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  15. ^ "Meet the Composer: Mary Kouyoumdjian". Opera America. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  16. ^ "The Book of Spells". Navona Records. Archived from the original on 2024-06-22. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  17. ^ Amorosi, A.D. (2025-03-14). "Kronos Quartet + Mary Kouyoumdjian, "Witness"". FLOOD. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  18. ^ CHANNEL, THE VIOLIN (2024-02-19). "Violist Noémie Chemali's Debut Album, "Opus 961"". World's Leading Classical Music Platform. Archived from the original on 2025-04-24. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  19. ^ "Mary Kouyoumdjian | Composer". www.nyphil.org. Archived from the original on 2025-03-26. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  20. ^ Kushner, Daniel (2013-02-04). "5 questions to Leaha Maria Villarreal and Mary Kouyoumdjian (composers, artistic/executive directors of Hotel Elefant)". I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  21. ^ Springer, Andie (2019-02-03). "News". WILD SHORE NEW MUSIC. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  22. ^ "Mary Kouyoumdjian | College of Performing Arts". www.newschool.edu. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  23. ^ "Mary Kouyoumdjian | Peabody Institute". Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  24. ^ "LA Opera and Beth Morrison Projects present composer Mary Kouyoumdjian's "Adoration"". The Armenian Weekly. 2024-12-18. Archived from the original on 2025-06-01. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  25. ^ "Mary Kouyoumdjian | Banff Centre". www.banffcentre.ca (in French). Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  26. ^ "Mary Kouyoumdjian | Mannes School of Music". www.newschool.edu. Archived from the original on 2024-07-25. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  27. ^ "Composer Mary Kouyoumdjian's Pulitzer Prize Finalist Work Paper Pianos Performed by Alarm Will Sound at The Clarice". horizonweekly.ca. 2025-04-01. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  28. ^ "PSNY: Mary Kouyoumdjian Works". www.eamdc.com. Archived from the original on 2024-12-19. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  29. ^ "Paper Pianos | Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC)". empac.rpi.edu. 2023-02-19. Archived from the original on 2025-06-16. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  30. ^ Chinen, Nate (2024-05-07). "Tyshawn Sorey wins 2024 Pulitzer Prize in music for 'Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith)'". NPR. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  31. ^ Jr., Jim Shahen. "Tales of genocide, civil war inform new composition 'Witness'". Times Union. Archived from the original on 2025-04-03. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  32. ^ "Witness and memory: Kronos Quartet and Mary Kouyoumdjian give voice to the silenced". The Strad. Archived from the original on 2025-04-24. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  33. ^ "An Act of Worship | 2022 Tribeca Festival". Tribeca. Archived from the original on 2025-06-12. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
  34. ^ "Mary Kouyoumdjian | Composer, Music Department". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2025-01-24. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
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