Kronos Quartet & Mary Kouyoumdjian - WITNESS (2025)

A new portrait album featuring the works of Armenian-American composer and documentarian Mary Kouyoumdjian on CD, vinyl and streaming on Phenotypic Recordings. The works featured on Kouyoumdjian's first portrait album exemplify her use of the arts as an amplifier of expression, often integrating testimonies from resilient individuals and field recordings of place to invite empathy. Kouyoumdjian's work seeks to humanize complex experiences around social and political conflict. Armenian-Canadian filmmaker (and Kouyoumdjian's frequent collaborator) Atom Egoyan contributes the liner notes introduction, writing, 'This collection is an open letter to the tragic hymn of transmitted trauma and the possibility of art and magnificently gifted artists to help create new life'. Cover artwork and design has been contributed by Armenian-Canadian photographer Osheen Harruthoonyan, who merges movement with themes of cultural heritage and renewal. Phenotypic Recordings will donate all streaming proceeds from the album to Kooyrigs and the Lebanese Red Cross and to support the Armenian and Lebanese communities.