Alexander Grigori Arutiunian[a] (23 September 1920 – 28 March 2012), was a Soviet and Armenian composer and pianist, widely known for his 1950 Trumpet Concerto.

[1] A professor at Yerevan State Conservatory, he was recognized with many awards for his work, including the Stalin Prize in 1949 and People's Artist of the USSR in 1970, as well as numerous honors from his homeland of Armenia.

After the war he moved to Moscow, where between 1946 and 1948 he participated in the workshops of House of Armenian Culture, and studied composition with Genrikh Litinsky.

In 1949, Arutiunian composed the "Festive Overture" that was first performed in the Big Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic in November 1949, with Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting.

In 1988, inspired by the Spitak earthquake, Arutiunian composed his Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, Armenia-88[3] (dedicated to Ruben Aharonyan).

Arutiunian originally intended to write it in 1943 for a student of Tabakov, Zsolak Vartasarian, who was the principal trumpet in the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra.