A NEW TRADITION
By Joyce Rudolph

Glendale News Press, CA
Dec 24 2007

Heritage group hopes first classical concert showcasing Armenian
composers becomes an annual tradition.

An Armenian heritage organization hopes to inform younger generations
of its proud past by presenting a concert of Armenian classical music.

The Armenian National Treasures Foundation has organized its first
"Armenian Holiday Concert" featuring the Cilicia Symphonic Orchestra
conducted by Mikael Avetisyan. It is scheduled for Thursday at Glendale
Presbyterian Church.

"It is hoped that this first concert will start a tradition like
they have done for centuries with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s
annual New Year’s concert where tickets sell out two years in advance,"
Avetisyan said.

The orchestra will play traditional holiday scores that have been part
of the Armenian heritage for more than 100 years and contemporary
works by well-known Armenian composers, said Bianca Manoukian,
co-founder/chairperson of the foundation.

"We hope the public will gain tremendous joy, holiday spirit and
great satisfaction from the concert," Manoukian said.

One of the concert soloists, Anahit Nercesyan, will sing "Yerevan"
by Artemi Aivezian, one of the most prominent Armenian composers
and founder of the first Armenian jazz orchestra in the 1930s,
Manoukian said.

"This song is a very difficult song to perform," she said. "It was
written for a prima donna of the Armenian Opera. The notes range from
one end of the spectrum to the other, and very quickly."

Nercesyan has won many soloist competitions and has performed as a
soloist with more then 40 orchestras in the Soviet Union, she said.

"I’m happy about doing this concert because it’s a very big project
and a very good project," she said. "Armenian classical songs are
happy songs about our country, peace and love. I hope these concerts
continue, because it’s important to share our culture of classical
Armenian music."

Traditional songs that Armenians sing and play during their holiday
gatherings will be played while photographs of famous Armenian
inventors, composers and writers throughout history will be shown on
two large screens, Manoukian said.

Historical Armenian figures include Luther Simjian who invented the
automated teller machine, she said.

"Armenian composers have made contributions to the world of music,
so we figured this concert is the best way to show this because
classical musical doesn’t speak any languages," she said.

"It breaks down walls and teaches ourselves, Armenians, especially
the younger generation, who you are."

When Armenians left their homelands after the Armenian Genocide,
they adapted to the culture of the host countries they now live in,
she said. So, traditions and historical figures don’t get passed
along to the next generation.

"When you know about your own heritage you are able to understand and
appreciate the beauty and the differences of other cultures," she said.

A group of Armenian community leaders in Glendale founded the
organization last summer.

"We want to break the walls down and use the diversity as something
good and beautiful and find beauty in the differences," she said.