BIO

Violinist Lilit Hartunian performs at the forefront of contemporary music innovation, both as soloist and highly in-demand collaborative artist. First prize winner in the 2021 Black House Collective New Music Soloist Competition, Ms. Hartunian’s "Paganiniesque virtuosity" and “captivating and luxurious tone” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) are frequently on display at the major concert halls of Boston, including multiple solo performances at Jordan Hall and chamber music at Symphony Hall (Boston Symphony Orchestra Insights Series), as well as at leading academic institutions, including the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory, Brandeis University, and Tufts University, where she often appears as both soloist and new music specialist. Ms. Hartunian performs regularly with A Far Cry, Emmanuel Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Castle of Our Skins. She is a member of New-York-based Switch Ensemble, Boston-based Dinosaur Annex, Sound Icon, and Guerilla Opera, as well as an Assistant Professor at Boston Conservatory. Recent highlights include co-founding violin and cimbalom duo Lamnth, performing at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s “Ligeti 100” chamber music concerts in Symphony Hall, and appearing on the 2023 Grammy winning album for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Described as “brilliantly rhapsodic” by the Harvard Crimson, Ms. Hartunian can be heard on Albany Records, New Amsterdam Records, Mode Records, Innova Recording, SEAMUS records, New Focus Records, and on self-released albums by Ludovico Ensemble and Kirsten Volness. She has appeared as soloist in the SEAMUS, SCI, SICPP, NYCEMF, Electroacoustic Barn Dance, Open Sound, and Third Practice festivals. Ms. Hartunian frequently performs works written for her by leading composers, including a world premiere by Guggenheim Fellow Marti Epstein, duo recitals with composers John McDonald and Ryan Vigil, and both audio album and special video projects with composer Sid Richardson. A long-time collaborator with the the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Ms. Hartunian curated and performed a season of chamber music paired with visual art in the museum’s collection in her one-year chamber music residency, Vellumsound, and has also given numerous solo recitals at the museum, including an innovative online performance that reached over 20,000 viewers and was picked up by Forbes Magazine. Ms. Hartunian performs on a Pietro Cateni violin made in Livorno, Italy in 1795.