Vocalist, composer Astghik Martirosyan reflects on hope and mutual care in the midst of sorrow on her debut album Distance

Armenian born, New York City-based vocalist, composer, and pianist Astghik Martirosyan brings her powerful album Distance to National Sawdust in New York on November 19. Distance is an artistic statement born of intense reflection on the relationship between present and past, self and nation, one’s inner emotional life and the call of homeland. Martirosyan wrote the music in 2020 while experiencing a stark duality: tremendous artistic growth and fulfillment at New England Conservatory (NEC) in Boston amid gut-wrenching news from an Armenia embroiled in a 44-day war with neighboring Azerbaijan over the status of the long-disputed Artsakh. This was during the pandemic as well, giving the title Distance another fraught layer of meaning. “All these emotions were happening,” Martirosyan recalls. “I was experiencing it at a distance, by myself, far from my family and my country, and all of this came out in the music. This was my way of trying to heal, hope and dream, but also to express real sorrow. I lost friends in that war. I have friends who lost their homes. Music was my outlet.”

Born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia, where she began her career at 15, Martirosyan went on to earn a master’s degree from NEC, studying with Dominique Eade and Frank Carlberg, among others. She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles. She captures the uniqueness of her journey to brilliant effect on her debut album, Distance, which features some of the finest musicians of the Los Angeles scene. Pianist Vardan Ovsepian (who co-produced the date with Martirosyan), veteran bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz and top-ranked rising drummer Christian Euman make up the core band, with vital assists from tenor saxophonist Daniel Rotem and cellist Maksim Velichkin on two tracks apiece.