Naghash Ensemble

After years of successfully touring Europe, Armenia’s critically-acclaimed Naghash Ensemble will debut in New York at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on March 11, 2023, as part of its North American tour. The performance, entitled “Songs of Exile,” is the 38th Musical Armenia concert presented by the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Based in Yerevan and led by Armenian-American composer John Hodian, the Naghash Ensemble combines the earthy spirituality of Armenian folk song, new classical music and contemporary post-minimalism with the energy of rock and jazz. Three brilliant female vocalists and some of Armenia’s finest instrumentalists on duduk, oud, dhol and piano play captivating new music based on sacred texts by Mkrtich Naghash, a medieval Armenian mystic poet and priest.

Sacred sounds inspire Armenia’s most intriguing new music

American-Armenian composer John Hodian, the creator and composer of the Naghash Ensemble, was raised in Philadelphia. “I grew up in a very Armenian household,” Hodian shared in a conversation with Weekly contributor Dalita Getzoyan. “Every recording my father owned was Armenian.” Although he plays piano, he noted that he identifies most as a composer. Hodian holds a master’s degree in both composition and conducting. His musical influences are highly varied, including Bach counterpoint, polyphonic medieval vocal music, contemporary classical music such as Steve Reich and Phillip Glass (who produced his first CD), Motown and funk, and of course, Armenian. Hodian said, “It’s got as much Prince as it does Komitas.” For 15 years, Hodian worked as a composer for film and television, eventually leaving to focus on his own goals and aspirations, though it took him some time to figure out exactly what those were.

In 2005, Hodian went to Yerevan with support from Nareg Hartounian, who had just created the Naregatsi Art Institute. He was able to work with many young Armenian composers, developed a recording studio, and taught classes in contemporary film scoring, electronic music and contemporary composition techniques. At the same time, he had just started exploring many of the ancient monasteries and sacred spaces in the country of his ancestors. He was alone at Garni temple when he suddenly heard something he describes as “the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.” It turned out to be soprano Hasmik Baghdasaryan, Armenia’s leading performer of medieval spiritual music.

“The sound of that voice in that temple was mesmerizing, and it remained in my mind for days after,” said Hodian. “As a composer, I wanted to steal it and make it my own. Stravinsky said ‘Bad composers borrow, good composers steal.’ I was determined to write something that would use this sound in a new way. When you borrow, it’s not really yours. But when you steal, it is yours. It becomes part of your own DNA, and you’re able to really do something with it that’s never been done. But you have to really encapsulate it.” Although Hodian is able to describe how he combines all the musical styles that have influenced his compositions, he noted that the incorporation of these styles is not conscious while he is creating. He intuitively trusts that he embodies all his musical influences. 

Though he knew what the music would sound like, Hodian spent several years looking for just the right text to set to music until he finally came across a short fragment of a poem by a little-known Armenian medieval priest named Mkrtich Naghash. The text described in terrifying detail the plight of people forced to live in exile. “Those words leapt off the page and into my soul,” Hodian said. “I knew I had found my text.” He had to track down the texts. The original manuscripts were lost, but there are versions by later copyists. With the help of several Armenian scholars and the Mekhitarists of San Lazzaro degli Armeni in Venice, Italy, Hodian was able to unearth all the remaining 16 poems. 

In setting these texts to music, Hodian followed his intuition. “The music is the natural product of someone who was raised listening to Armenian music in the home, studied European classical music in his youth, particularly medieval polyphonic vocal music and certain contemporary minimalist composers,” he said. “Plus, I was constantly surrounded by contemporary popular music in all its forms.” Subconsciously combining all these influences, the music he created has been described as “the sound of Ancient Armenia reinvented for the 21st century” by Armenia’s most renowned composer Tigran Mansurian.

To perform these works, Hodian gathered some of Armenia’s finest local musicians on oud, duduk and dhol, along with three highly-regarded Armenian female singers, including Baghdasaryan, his original inspiration. The group launched its first European tour in 2014 and has been touring internationally ever since. Typically, the ensemble’s audiences are not Armenian. They attract many classical and world musicians.

The Naghash Ensemble is Baghdasaryan (soprano), Tatevik Movsesyan (soprano), Arpine Ter-Petrosyan (alto), Harutyun Chkolyan (duduk), Aramayis Nikoghosyan (oud), Tigran  Hovhannisyan (dhol) and Hodian (piano/composer).

Praise for the Naghash Ensemble:

“The sounds of Ancient Armenia reimagined for the 21st century.” — Tigran Mansurian
“A moment of grace and meditation”— Rolling Stone
“An enchanting elixir of sounds based on new Armenian folk and centuries-old poetry” — KEXP
“A stunning discovery.”  — Bayerischer Rundfunk
“Part folk music, part classical, and profoundly moving. Unmistakably Armenian, but out of this world” – Armenisch-Deutsche Korrespondenz 

Tickets for the March 11 performance at Carnegie Hall are available online.

The ensemble’s other North American dates include:

3/02/23 • UCLA, Schoenberg Hall • Los Angeles, CA
3/03/23 • Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts • Mountain View, CA
3/04/23 • Lone Tree Arts Center • Lone Tree, CO
3/05/23 • The Lincoln Center • Fort Collins, CO
3/09/23 • University of Michigan • Ann Arbor, MI
3/10/23 • St. John Armenian Church • Southfield, MI
3/11/23 • Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall • New York, NY
3/13/23 • Salle Bourgie • Montréal, Canada
3/15/23 • Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage • Washington, DC
3/17/23 • Chatter • Albuquerque, NM
3/18/23 • San Miguel Chapel • Santa Fe, NM