Flora Martirosian

Flora Artashesi Martirosian (Armenian: Ֆլորա Արտաշեսի Մարտիրոսյան ) (February 5, 1957 – November 20, 2012) was an Armenian folk singer, founder "Artists for Peace" Foundation, and initiator of the cultural movement Never Again.

Flora Martirosian was born on February 5, 1957 in Leninakan (now Gyumri), Armenian SSR, Soviet Union to a family of an athlete and a housewife. She inherited her vocal skills from her mother. Martirosian studied at the Gyumri Musical School. Her participation in the Garun 73 contest in 1973 brought her the first prize. A graduate of the Yerevan State Conservatory, she later married Hrahat Gevorgyan, a journalist, in 1987. Martirosyan won her first international award in the Hamburg International Festival in 1978. The song Tsovastghik (author: Gusan Ashot) which brought the singer a great fame, was recognized as a top song for 15 years. Martirosyan performed guest concerts in over 60 countries around the world. The family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1987 and returned to Yerevan in 1997. Martirosian was the principal of Yerevan's Armen Tigranyan Musical School between 1997-2001. She then again moved to Los Angeles after her husband received an appointment. Martirosian founded the Komitas Musical Academy in Los Angeles in 2002. In 2007, she established the Artists for Peace Charity Foundation which attracted a large number of world-renowned singers and Hollywood superstars who joined under the slogan "Never Again" to raise their voice of protest against genocides. Martirosian gave her first concert in Los Angeles in 2011. In 2005, Christine Pepelyan and she won an award called "The Best Duet" in Los Angeles.

The singer died on November 20, 2012. Complications of a gallbladder surgery are thought to be the cause of her death. The singer was buried in Yerevan's Komitas City Pantheon on December 12, 2012.