EREVAN CHORAL SOCIETY CHRISTMAS CONCERT DEDICATED TO GOMIDAS
Armenian Weekly
January 19, 2010
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-"Let It Snow" wasn’t one of the songs featured in
the Erevan Choral Society’s annual Christmas Holiday Concert held on
Sun., Jan. 3, but snow it did. In the 24 hours before the concert,
Cambridge saw an additional two inches blanket the area following one
of the snowiest Decembers on record. But despite the wintry weather,
the sanctuary of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church saw a
capacity audience for a concert that has become a holiday tradition
in the greater Boston Armenian and musical communities.
Erevan Choral Society during it’s performance on Jan. 3 The
second Christmas concert without the guiding hand of founder and
director Very Rev. Fr. Oshagan Minassian began with the traditional
candlelight procession to the strains of "O Come All Ye Faithful,"
opening a program of mixed traditional Armenian, light classical,
and Western Christmas music, under the able direction of renowned
Armenian composer Konstantin Petrossian.
Petrossian’s conducting was crisp and lively, coaxing from the ensemble
of mostly professional instrumentalists and mostly amateur choristers
a sound ranging from the energy and verve of Jerry Herman’s "We Need
a Little Christmas" from the musical "Mame," to the prayerful lyricism
of Vahan Bedelian’s "Yegheghetsin Haygagan" dedicated to Fr.
Minassian’s memory, and Gomidas Vartabed’s "Orhnerk Hayrabedagan,"
one of three pieces commemorating the 140th anniversary of the
celebrated Armenian composer’s birth. The program also included
five arrangements by the multitalented Petrossian, four of which
premiered at the concert. Particular high points included the solo
offerings of operatic tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan and mezzo-soprano
Victoria Avetisyan. Significantly impressive were Manucharyan’s
vibrant rendering of Gomidas’s "Hayastan" and Avetisyan’s soaring
interpretation of the traditional "Aysor Don eh Soorp Dzununtyan,"
both in premier arrangements by Petrossian.
In a year of economic hardship and the conspicuous absence of the
guiding hand and indomitable energy of Fr. Minassian, many had feared
that the holiday concert might not go forward. Thanks to the gentle
but insistent efforts of Fr. Vazken Kouzouian, the pastor of Holy
Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, the dedication of Petrossian
and the members of the Erevan Choral Society and Orchestra, and the
generous financial support of the Armenian community of Greater Boston,
the annual Christmas Holiday Concert may be judged to have been an
unqualified success, and all concerned may feel at least cautious
optimism that with continued faith and dedication the tradition will
go forward in the years to come-snow or no snow.