Armenian-born conductor and pianist Gohar Manvelyan holds degrees in both piano performance and choral conducting from the Tchaikovsky Academic Music College at the Moscow State Conservatory, Concordia University, the University of Sherbrooke, and the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. As a doctoral student in 2017 she received a grant from McGill University to travel to Armenia with the aim of conducting primary source research in Armenian sacred music, attending various lectures organized by the Komitas Museum-Institute. In 2019, she earned the Doctor of Music degree in Choral Conducting. Her doctoral thesis, titled Makar Yekmalyan’s Divine Liturgy: The Introduction of Polyphony in Armenian Sacred Music, has led to publication projects and an invitation to present a session titled Armenian Sacred Music: Its Origin and Development at the IFCM World Choral EXPOEXCHANGE! in Lisbon in September 2022.