Mikael Tariverdiev (Russian: Микаэл Таривердиев, Armenian: Միքայել Թարիվերդիև; 15 August 1931 – 24 July 1996) was a prominent Soviet composer of Armenian descent. He headed the Composers' Guild of the Soviet Cinematographers' Union from its inception.
He was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR to Armenian parents, but lived and worked in Russia. His father, Levon Tariverdiev was from Baku but a native of Nagorno-Karabakh. His mother, Satenik, was Georgian Armenian. He studied at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan for two years and then graduated from the Moscow Gnessin Institute in the class of Aram Khachaturian in 1957.
Tariverdiev is an author of over 100 romances and 4 operas, including the comic opera Graf Cagliostro and monoopera "The Waiting". But he is best known for his music in many popular Soviet movies (more than 130 films, included "Seventeen Moments of Spring" and "The Irony of Fate"—see List of film music by Mikael Tariverdiev).
Mikael Tariverdiev was a recipient of many awards, including the USSR State Prize (1977) and the Prize of the American Music Academy (1975). He was awarded a title People's Artist of Russia in 1986. He won three Nika Awards for Best Composer in the 1990s.