SIMONIAN TO CONDUCT PARSIAN IN VIVALDI’S "FOUR SEASONS"

Tehran Times
Nov 5 2008
Iran

TEHRAN — Iran’s Parsian Orchestra will perform Vivaldi’s "The Four
Seasons" under the direction of Armenian guest conductor Merujan
Simonian at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on November 6 and 7.

In a press conference held here on Monday, the spokesman for the
orchestra elaborated on the program and said, "The string ensemble,
established in 2002, so far has performed works by Iranian and
foreign composers and we are pleased that after these few years we
have established a reputation such that Iranian and foreign conductors
want to collaborate with us."

"Violin soloist Khachik Babaiian and harpsichord soloist Zarmik
Babaiian are among the group’s members who will perform Antonio
Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ (Italian: Le quattro stagioni)," he added.

He also explained that they were planning to give a three-night
performance but since performing the piece is a difficult task for
the soloists, it was reduced to two performances.

Simonian was the next to speak and said, "I was invited to conduct
the Parsian Orchestra a while ago and since I had no idea about it,
I asked several friends to provide me with some albums by the ensemble.

"After listening to their performances, I became interested in
collaborating. I did not think there would be such an accomplished
string ensemble like this in Iran," he noted.

He also added that Iran has always given great assistance to Armenian
society, "I hope I can compensate for part of their kindness through
cooperating with this orchestra."

Maestro Maziar Zahireddini also remarked that the Parsian Orchestra
only gives three or four performances every year and this is the
reason they don’t feel the need to have a permanent conductor.