Tigran Hamasyan is considered one of the most remarkable and distinctive jazz-meets-rock pianists and composers of his generation. A piano virtuoso with groove power, he seamlessly fuses potent jazz improvisation and progressive rock with the rich folkloric music of his native Armenia. Born in Gyumri, Armenia, in 1987, his musical journey began at home, where he was exposed to a wide range of influences, playing piano at three, performing in festivals by eleven, and winning the Montreux Jazz Festival’s piano competition in 2003. He released his debut album World Passion in 2004 at seventeen, followed by his win at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. Subsequent albums include New Era, Red Hail, A Fable (winner of France’s Victoires de la Musique), Shadow Theater, and Luys i Luso, featuring the Yerevan State Chamber Choir performing Armenian sacred music from the 5th to 20th centuries.

His Nonesuch debut Mockroot (2015) won the Echo Jazz Award for International Piano Instrumentalist of the Year, followed by An Ancient Observer (2017), For Gyumri (2018), Revisiting the Film (2021), and StandArt (2022), for which he received the Deutscher Jazzpreis in 2021. His latest conceptual double album The Bird of a Thousand Voices(Naïve/Believe, 2024) blends traditional Armenian folk with rock influences, inspired by an ancient tale of a mythical bird whose thousand songs restore harmony to the world. The project includes an interactive experience (“The Kingdom” at bird1000.com) and premiered as a transmedia music theater piece at the Holland Festival in June 2024. Praised by Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, and Chick Corea, Hamasyan continues to captivate audiences worldwide. As NPR wrote, “With startling combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, folk, and songwriterly elements… you’ll hear nothing else like this.”