Martin Shahbazyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1999. He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in piano performance at Texas Christian University under Dr. Tamas Ungar, having earned his Master's degree from TCU in 2023 and his Bachelor's from the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory and the TUAS Arts Academy in Finland.
Martin began playing the piano at the age of four and graduated from the Tchaikovsky Specialized Music School in 2016. He has won prizes at numerous national and international competitions, including the Grand Prix of the Harmonium Onlineplus IMC in 2020, and first prize at both the Franz Liszt Center International Piano Competition and the 47th Annual Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Competition in 2022.
He has premiered works by Armenian composers and has performed across Armenia, Europe, and the United States. In 2025, he won the "Piano Campus de Bronze" at the Piano Campus International Piano Competition in France, performing Chopin's E minor Piano Concerto with the Cergy-Pontoise Symphony Orchestra and premiering Régis Campo's Concerto-Minute.
In addition to classical music, Martin has performed in various genres with his own prog/rock folk trio, where he is the pianist, singer, and composer. He has also composed music for theater, including the 2017 production Hovnan.