PRESS RELEASE December 1, 2007
NAREK Bell Choir of St. Mary
4125 Fessenden Street, NW
Washington, DC 20016
Contact: Leon Khoja-Eynatyan
Tel: 202-363-1923; E-mail: maestro@narekbells.com
Web:

NAREK BELL CHOIR RECEIVES THEIR SECOND ARMENIAN MUSIC AWARD

On November 23, 2007, 9th Annual Armenian Music Awards ceremony took place
at the Gibson Amphitheater, Universal City, California. There were more than
70 nominees for 23 nominations.

The NAREK Bell Choir of St. Mary CD "Let There Be Light" was named the Best
Liturgical Album of the Year.

This is their second Armenian Music Award. Our first CD "Gloria in Excelsis"
which was produced in collaboration with Junior Choir of Sts. Sahag and
Mesrob Church from Providence, RI won this Award in 2005 in the Best
Liturgical, Spiritual, Inspirational Album category.

The CD is the product of 3 years of research, arrangements and recording of
the rare music hard to find in print. This was result of the collaboration
of NAREK Bell Choir with Dr. Socrates Boyajian, Music Director of St. Mary
Armenian Church in Washington, DC.

Fr. Kalayjian was simply too proud for the accomplishments of the NAREK Bell
Choir registered during the relatively short span of its existence since
2000.

There are 40 tracks on this CD. The Bell Choir recorded 5 excerpts `Soorp
Asdvatz’, Marmeen Deroonagan’, `Krisdos Ee Mech’, `Hayr mer’ and `Amen.
Yegheetsee’ from the musical settings of the Divine Liturgies from the
following composers: Pietro Bianchini, Magar Yegmalian, Levon Chilngirian,
Amy Apcar, Gomidas, Edgar Manas, Khoren Mekanejian and Socrates Boyajian.

16-page insert has an article about the Music of Liturgy of the Armenian
Church and the musical notes about each Liturgy and its composers. The
translation and the texts of each excerpt are included in the insert as
well.

The part of this CD was recorded in Armenia during NAREK Bell Choir historic
tour to our Motherland in 2005 and the whole work was completed in
Washington in the Spring of 2006.

This CD was produced with the support from the District of Columbia
Commission of Arts and Humanities and with support from Caspar M. Kasparian
Memorial Fund.

"Let There Be Light" has been also nominated for the WAMMIES 2007 (the
Washington Area Music Awards).