Tatul Altunyan
Tatul Tigrani Altunyan was an Armenian conductor, the founder of Armenian State Song-Dance Ensemble, People's Artist of USSR, recipient of the State Prize of the USSR and university professor.
Altunyan was the student of Romanos Melikian and Spiridon Melikian. In 1934, after graduating from the Yerevan State Conservatory, he studied at the Leningrad State Conservatory. Altunyan founded the Armenian National Song and Dance Ensemble in 1938, and acted as its principal conductor, giving performances around the world, until 1970. The ensemble is remembered as a "perfect illustration of the beauty of traditional Armenian music".
Altunyan died in 1973 and is buried at the Tokhmakh Cemetery in Yerevan, along with his wife Olga Altunyan. He is the father of Armenian conductor Zhirayr Altunyan.
