Playing to Win

Everyone in Tigran Mardanyan’s immediate family—his mother, father, and two brothers—studied piano at Armenia’s well-regarded specialized music schools. For the Mardanyans, music is just as essential to a proper education as math or language or history. But for Tigran, what started out as the family curriculum became a true artistic practice—and now a professional pathway that has led him to an impressive run of solo piano competition wins. 

“Tigran is an extraordinary pianist,” says his teacher, Professor Michael Lewin. He possesses the control, accuracy, and intelligence that it takes to become a great soloist, as well as the requisite mindset, Lewin says: “He has the highest possible artistic standards, and is tirelessly devoted to growing and learning.” 

Mardanyan studied with Lewin all four undergraduate years and earned his bachelor’s degree in piano performance as a Benjamin Kasser Endowed Piano Scholar. He made his presence known to the Boston Conservatory community just a few short months after arriving on campus by winning the school’s orchestra concerto competition—a rare feat for a first-year student. The prize was a solo performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 at stately Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, backed by the Boston Conservatory Orchestra.  

Now a graduate student at the Conservatory, Mardanyan is still learning from the professor who, he says, helped bring depth of feeling to his playing. “First and foremost is that he opened me up emotionally … to express more, so that the playing has more impact on people,” Mardanyan says. 

Drawn to the “Romantic ideologies” of nineteenth-century piano music, Mardanyan seeks out repertoire that is as emotionally rewarding as it is technically demanding. “The most important thing—I heard this in one of Arthur Rubenstein’s interviews—is that you have to play pieces that you feel a deep connection with,” he says. 

As he endeavors to launch a career as a concert pianist, Mardanyan has elevated his solo competition playing, aiming not only for brilliant technique but to convince jury members “that you have something special, that you have something to say.”

Last year, he racked up an impressive string of first-prize wins at the 2025 Ocean Music International Piano Competition, Great Piano Masters International Piano Competition, Franz Liszt Center Competition, and Orbetello International Piano Competition. He also won second prize at the WPTA Italy International Piano Competition and fourth prize at the WPTA Spain International Piano Competition, where he received a special recognition for the best performance of a virtuoso composition.