The winners of the first Armenia International Music Competition were announced on Wednesday, the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia told Panorama.am.

The first prize winner is Hripsime Ahgakaryan (Armenia), the second prize winner is Khachik Andreasyan (Armenia), the third prize winner is Dominik Wizjan (Poland), as well as the special prize winner is Seolhwa Kim (South Korea). Besides the winners, two more participants were granted vouchers of participation for Malta International Piano Competition in April 2018.

The chairman of jury Armen Babakhanyan mentioned, that their expectations were fulfilled. “I’m satisfied with the results. I was among the jurors of many competitions, but this group of jury was different: their work, their approach to every contestant was unique. Our opinions about performers coincided in 95% occasions. Our choice of the winner was consentaneous and that was a fantastic result. The jurors were the representatives of different schools. Despite this they were judging the performances according to their professionalism,” said Mr. Babakhanyan.

Kostantin Ishkhanov, the president of the European Foundation for Support of Culture, thinks that the competition was held at a very high level. “I’m very glad that such famous artists came to Armenia and performed here. The best 5 participants of the competition will have an opportunity to go to Malta and to take part in the Piano competition, in 2018. The prize fund is quite tangible – a hundred thousand Euros for the First Prize and the total prize fund is two hundred thousand Euros. I hope that the participants of Armenian competition will do their best in Malta.”

The organizers of the 1st “Armenia” International Festival and Competition are the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia and European Foundation for Support of Culture. It is held with the support of the Armenian Ministry of Culture. The event is held under the high patronage of the first lady of Armenia Rita Sargsyan.

The competition-festival will be closed by a concert of world famous violinist Maxim Vengerov and State Youth Orchestra of Armenia this evening.