ArmInfo.The team of the National Opera and Ballet Theater named after Spendiaryan again expressed a desire to meet with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to present him the true facts related to the scandal related to the dismissal from the post of theater director Konstantin Orbelian.
The soloist of the National Philharmonic Orchestra Levon Javadyan and conductor Harutyun Arzumanyan expressed this intention at today's meeting with journalists. They explained that a month had passed since the meeting with the Prime Minister, but the staff of the theater had not received a clear answer yet. Levon Javadyan, commenting on the situation around <incriminating evidence> about a number of violations allegedly committed by Orbelian, accused the former lawyer of the Opera Theater Kristina Naghdalyan, who, in his opinion, provoked Orbelian's resignation, publishing an article openly accusing the maestro of being illegally in the position of director of the theater and also told about the problems in the theater.
As Javadyan explained, by the order of the Ministry of Finance in 2017, a number of employees of the Opera Theater were reduced, and Orbelyan has already been appointed director of the theater then. As for Ms. Naghdalyan, she was dismissed due to official abuse, in particular, the accumulated debts in 2014- 2016, he noted.
In addition, the opera theater team believes that the "contrived" arguments of the lawyer served as the basis for the order to dismiss Orbelyan, assuring that in the order given by the acting Culture Minister of Armenia Nazeni Gharibyan the accusations that were previously published in the media were literally copied.
According to the estimates of the theater staff, the misinformation spread in the media mislead both the public and Nikol Pashinyan and Nazeni Gharibyan themselves. In connection with this, the staff demands a meeting with the prime minister so that Pashinyan hears the truth and makes the right decision. The theater team is confident that the conflict around Orbelyan is caused by a clash of interests and abuse of official powers, given that the husband of Christine Naghdalyan is the head of the staff of the Ministry of Culture.
Employees of the theater consider the evidence collected against Orbelyan as far-fetched, calling his dismissal from the post of director unlawful, and condemn the decision of the Ministry of Culture, believing that the department did not have the right to remove Orbelyan from office until the contract expires in 2020.
In addition, Arzumanyan explained that after Orbelian's dismissal, Gharibyan announced the appointment of a new director of the theater, whose name remained secret for them, but only after meeting with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Culture statement was made saying that Karine Kirakosyan was appointed Director of the theater.
Despite the fact that Kirakosyan temporarily acts as director of the theater, the artists do not agree with the development of such a scenario, noting that the question will cause concern until the problem gets its final decision, while expressing the hope that Orbelian will be able to reassume the position.
To note, Konstantin Orbelian currently continues to be the artistic director of the Opera Theater. On March 29, 2019, the world-famous conductor was dismissed from the post of director of the theater according to the decree of the Acting Minister of Culture of Armenia Nazeni Gharibyan, the basis for which was Article 15 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On State Non-Profit Organizations", which states that a person appointed to the position of Director of SNCO cannot occupy another position or perform other paid work, except for scientific, pedagogical and creative work. It should be noted that, along with a brilliant pianist career, Orbelyan also developed a wide range of activities in the opera field as a conductor and artistic director. In particular, in 1991-2009, he was artistic director and chief conductor of the State Academic Chamber Orchestra of Russia. In 2003, Orbelyan, a US citizen, the first foreigner who does not have Russian citizenship, was awarded the honorary title of Honored Artist of Russia. In 2012, he was awarded the Order of Friendship for his great contribution to the popularization of Russian culture outside Russia.