BASHMET’S "SOLOISTS OF MOSCOW" AND THE ARMENIAN-JAPANESE ABSTRACTIONISM
Anahit Minasyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.06.2009 GMT+04:00

On June 1, on the International Children’s Day, public organizations
organized a number of activities in the gardens and parks of Armenia
with participation of children. Children made an artificial tree
with the colors of the national flag of Armenia, sang, danced, drew
pictures on the asphalt and on the school desks, all this accompanied
by traditional games and dances.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the first days of June the Year of Bulgarian
Culture kicked off in Yerevan. National and classical dancing
ensembles performed various shows the whole week. At the inauguration
ceremony, Deputy Minister of Culture of Bulgaria Ivan Tokadjiev
proposed collaboration between the two countries in restoration
of historical-architectural monuments and tourism. Tokadjiev noted
Bulgaria was ready to afford Armenia the opportunity of exchanging the
experience the Bulgarian specialists acquired through collaboration
with Italian and French organizations, which are engaged in restoration
of historical-architectural monuments and development of tourism.

On the International Children’s Day famous Armenian duduk player
Jivan Gasparyan, who celebrated his 80th anniversary last year,
appeared on the stage of the Moscow International House of Music
together with his grandson Jivan Gasparyan Junior, a pupils of the
school after Jivan Gasparyan.

This week PanARMENIAN.Net managed to contact with the manager of
Angelina Jolie. As American media outlets previously reported,
Angelina Jolie had declared her intention of adopting an Armenian
child, because of the relatively easy process of adoption. According
to the manager, however, there is no information on this issue ready
to be made public yet.

On June 4 in the Center for Contemporary Experimental Art "NPAK" there
was opened an exhibition of Japanese and Armenian abstractionists. The
works of 24 artists from Japan and Armenia were exhibited at the
exhibition called "Transitional Hypothesis". Through the exhibition,
curators Ara Aytayan and Maki Kikiko tried to build up a dialogue
between the abstractionism so much vital in Japan and so resolutely
unaccepted in Armenia.

Last week Yerevan also hosted the presentation of the book "John
Kirakosyan: Origins of Statehood and Political Armenology", comprised
and edited by the scientist’s son Arman Kirakosyan. Dedicated to
the 80th anniversary of outstanding historian and politician John
Kirakosyan, the book comprises documents, memoranda, telegrams,
excerpts of personal memoirs, notes, stories and essays written by or
addressed to John Kirakosyan, as well as the author’s recollections
of the first investigation works of the Armenian Genocide in the
Ottoman Empire. According to historian Vladimir Barkhoudaryan,
the significance of the book consists not only in depiction of John
Kirakosyan’s life and activity, but also in the description of the
spirit and occurrences of those times.

About 2 months ago in Children’s Library after Khnko Aper in Yerevan
was held the presentation of collection of children’s fairy tales
"Following the Sun". Dedicated to environmental problems, the book
is written and illustrated by children from 11 different regions of
Armenia. At the official ceremony Ambassador of Germany to Armenia
Maria Andrea Wiktorin promised to publish in near future German
translation of the book that would acquaint German children with
the art of their Armenian friends and help Armenian children learn
German. Thus, keeping her promise, already on June 5 the Ambassador
presented the German version of the book "Following the Sun".

On the same day a four-day exhibition of German caricaturists
opened in the House of Armenian Writers in Tsakhkadzor. Though being
rather a popular newspaper genre in the West, surprisingly enough
the caricature genre of comics is not so popular in Armenia. However,
judging by the interest, expressed by the visitors of the exhibition,
it can be concluded that this genre has a good chance of developing
also in Armenia.

The first Friday of June was completed by the opening of the week
dedicated to the Argentine tango, represented within the framework of
movie showings in the National Gallery of Armenia. The opening ceremony
took place in "The club" flavoured with screening of several short
animated and feature films about the history of the Argentine tango. A
short video course of basic dance movements was also organized.

The cultural week in Yerevan was completed by the performance of
famous viola player Yuri Bashmet and the Chamber Orchestra of the
"Soloists of Moscow". The musicians gave a concert on the birthday of
great Armenian composer Aram Khachatryan. The works of Grieg, Bach,
Tchaikovsky and others were performed at the concert.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress