PRESS RELEASE
National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia
Komitas Chamber Music Hall
Isahakian 1
375025, Yerevan, Armenia
Contact: Sona Hamalian
Tel/Fax: (374 10) 526-718
E-mail: [email protected]
For immediate release
OPEN MUSIC FEST DEBUT TO CELEBRATE
Armenian, classical, and world music
Launch of summer festival draws broad local and international support
Yerevan, July 10, 2009 ` Open Music Fest, a new summer festival
dedicated to Armenian, classical, and world music will debut this
summer in Yerevan. Comprising 23 individual concerts and a number of
special events, the festival will take place at the Kino Moskva
open-air theater from July 30 through September 21.
Open Music Fest was conceived by the National Chamber Orchestra of
Armenia (NCOA), one of the Armenian republic’s most prestigious
musical institutions. Commenting on the key goals of Open Music Fest
2009, Aram Gharabekian, the NCOA’s artistic director and principal
conductor, said: `With the launch of Open Music Fest, we sought to
create a tradition that would first and foremost be a restatement to
Yerevan’s abiding spirit of cultural renewal.’
`As a longtime resident of the capital, I’ve come to know that its
people share a passionate desire for actions and values that speak to
the real joys of life art, and Open Music Fest is precisely the kind
of event that symbolizes Yerevan’s aspirations for artistic
excellence,’ Gharabekian continued. `At the same time, we wanted to
establish a festival of such high quality and artistic diversity that
it would help earn Yerevan ` and Armenia by extension ` recognition as
a musical center of global relevance.’
The launch of Open Music Fest has drawn an extraordinary level of
grassroots support. Earlier this year, when the NCOA appealed to the
public in Yerevan for assistance, hundreds of individuals and
businesses came forward in a spontaneous display of support,
volunteering their time and professional services, or pledging in-kind
donations. As significantly, the project received critically needed
financial assistance from a number of sources, including VivaCell,
Converse Bank, HayPost, the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, diaspora
benefactor Hovig Kurkjian, and others.
`These funders’ enthusiastic endorsement of Open Music Fest not only
translated into the seed money required to start the project, but gave
everyone involved an added sense of confidence and purposefulness,’
Gharabekian recalled. `Meanwhile, the volunteer services we keep
receiving from the people of Yerevan, including logistical assistance
from artists, designers, and other professionals, go a long way in
securing the nuts and bolts of the festival.’
True to the festival organizers’ stated goal of musical diversity, the
program of Open Music Fest 2009 comprises tributes to a plethora of
genres and traditions. These include classical, folk, ethnic, jazz,
fusion, and avant garde. `Open Music Fest will be just that: open to
the whole world and open to the wondrous mosaic of international
music,’ Gharabekian explained, adding that in addition to some of
Armenia’s most renowned musicians, the festival will feature guest
artists and groups from throughout the globe. Among them will be
accordionist and bandoneonist Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, clarinetist
Michel Lethiec, mezzo-soprano Anna Maria Chiuri, and saxophonist
Federico Mondelci.
In honoring the cutting edge of world music, the festival will
dedicate four concerts to various American musical traditions, with
guest artists including the highly acclaimed Boxhead Ensemble and the
outstanding young jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan, whose performance at
Open Music Fest 2009 will mark his debut in Armenia. According to the
organizers, this year a special emphasis is being placed on American
music, not only considering its outstanding merits, but to mark 20
years of partnership between the United States and Armenia, beginning
with the humanitarian assistance following the 1988 earthquake and
continuing to this day in many areas including culture.
Open Music Fest is also designed as an evolving conduit for fostering
professional growth and building cultural bridges with various
countries. Accordingly, the festival will offer a number of master
music classes throughout its run, taught by visiting artists. `Our
overarching goal is to provide a common ground for music to thrive on
a universal level,’ said Gharabekian. `With this in mind, currently
plans are underway to invite a greater number of artists from all over
the world for next year’s festival, asking them to teach our master
classes and/or performing at Open Music Fest. Moreover, we plan to
institute a multifaceted program in Yerevan but particularly in the
various regions of Armenia, with the purpose of recruiting musically
talented youths and providing them with training and guidance. It’s
all about preparing Armenia’s next generation of great musicians,
nurturing their talents, and ultimately enabling them to contribute to
the panoply of world music.’
Open Music Fest 2009
July 30 through September 21
Kino Moskva Open Air Theater
Yerevan
For more information about Open Music Fest 2009 and the full list of
concerts, visit ncoa.org.