“Lilit Tonoyan’s violin playing exudes expressive power in every moment. Her versatile tone touches deeply and projects confidently into the space.” (Klassik-Heute.de)
At the heart of violinist Lilit Tonoyan’s artistic work lies the exploration, interpretation, and communication of traditional Armenian music. After more than fifteen years of intensive engagement, she now focuses primarily on secular Armenian music, brought together in the Ensemble Lignum Vitae (Tree of Life; Armenian: Կենաց ծառ), which she founded herself. The ensemble sensitively combines Armenian folk songs, dance melodies, and poetic songs of the gusans in newly created arrangements that remain close to the originals while leaving space for improvisation. The repertoire includes melodies from numerous regions of historical Armenia.
Together with cellist Davit Melkonyan, duduk player André Meisner, percussionist Giuseppe Mautone, and bassist Jonas Dunkel, Tonoyan develops a distinctive sonic landscape. The combination of the duduk’s non-equal-tempered tuning, the warm sound of gut-stringed bowed instruments, and the singing tone of the Irish frame drum bodhrán creates an intense, cross-genre listening experience bridging different musical traditions.
Before her work with Lignum Vitae, Lilit Tonoyan founded the Cologne World Jazz Ensemble in 2008, which combined traditional Armenian music with jazz and improvisation. With this ensemble, she won a special prize at the Citroën Music Competition in 2012 and was a finalist at Creole NRW in 2013.
Her discography includes the critically acclaimed debut CD Amen Hayr Surb / Armenian Sacred Music & Johann Sebastian Bach (Kaleidos, 2018) as well as the equally well-reviewed album KRUNK – Armenian Secular Music (Kaleidos, 2024), which is dedicated exclusively to Armenia’s secular musical heritage.
Lilit Tonoyan was born in Yerevan (Armenia). After studying at the Komitas Conservatory with Prof. Artashes Mkrtchyan, she came to Germany in 2007 on a DAAD scholarship. At the Cologne University of Music and Dance, she completed a Master’s degree in solo violin with Prof. Ingeborg Scheerer and Prof. Albrecht Winter, as well as a Master’s degree in baroque violin and viola with Prof. Richard Gwilt.
As a soloist, she has received numerous awards, including prizes at the Khachaturian Competition in Armenia and the Henri Marteau International Violin Competition. She has been a scholarship holder of the Wagner Foundation, the Günther Wand Foundation, and the German Chamber Academy Neuss. In 2015, she received the Art Promotion Award of the City of Neuss in recognition of her artistic achievements.
As a chamber and orchestral musician, she has collaborated with ensembles such as Concerto Köln, Das Neue Orchester, Compagnia di Punto, Orchestra Kairos, Aachen Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Bremer Barockorchester, Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester, Consortium Musica Sacra Köln, Collegium Cartusianum, and many others.