A cover-story article in the Glendale News-Press, published on October 23, 2007, shed some light on the composer's unusual[clarification needed] start in classical music.

[2] Manukyan has dedicated many of his compositions to scientists, such as biologists James D. Watson, Francis Crick, physicists Steven Weinberg, Richard Feynman, linguist Noam Chomsky, and astronomer Victor Ambartsumian.

[4] [5] Manukyan's activism for science is often balanced with his anti-war rhetoric, which could be heard in songs he wrote on words by Chomsky, Bertrand Russell, Andrei Sakharov and others.

Edward Manukyan's compositional style was mainly influenced by the middle-generation Soviet composers, such as Aram Khachaturian, Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergey Prokofiev, as well as the Armenian successors of their traditions, Alexander Arutiunian, Edvard Mirzoyan, Tigran Mansuryan, etc.

Later he drew influences from Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky, striving for a contemporary style that is accessible for larger audiences, in part due to its closeness to Armenian folk music.