Komitas Vardapet with his students, 1909

Komitas Vardapet with his distinguished students, the composer Spiridon Melikyan (left) and the opera singer Armenak Shahmuradyan. The photograph was taken in Etchmiadzin (Vagharshapat) in 1909.

Komitas stands in the middle in black clerical dress and a black hat. The students on either side of him wear long overcoats, waistcoats and bowler hats. The photograph was taken in a studio, in front of a curtain.

Komitas was not only a composer but also a teacher, whose students continued and developed Armenian musical culture, bringing it to the world's stages.