Author: Ani Basmajian

May 2 2022

YEREVAN, Armenia — Police in Armenia's capital on Monday detained 180 anti-government demonstrators that were blocking streets to protest against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Protests demanding that Pashinyan step down reignited in Armenia last month, after he spoke in the country's parliament about the need to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a decades-old conflict over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under Armenian control since early 1990s. In a six-week war in the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan was able to reclaim control over large swaths of land in and around the region before signing a Russia-brokered truce with Armenia. Pashinyan has faced backlash at home for agreeing to the deal.

As Armenia and Azerbaijan edged closer to reaching a proper peace agreement this year, opposition forces in Armenia have resumed protests against Pashinyan. Rallies in the capital, Yerevan, are being held almost daily since April 17.

On Sunday, demonstrators in the center of Yerevan set up tents for a round-the-clock protest and said they wouldn't leave until Pashinyan and his team step down. The Interfax news agency reported that barricades were erected from garbage cans and street benches, and that traffic on France Square, a major road connecting four main avenues of the Armenian capital, stopped.

Demonstrators — including opposition lawmakers — chanted “Armenia without Nikol!” Protest leader and deputy parliamentary speaker Ishkhan Sagatelyan told reporters that protesters would clear the streets by Monday afternoon, so that another rally could gather on the square in the evening.

Some of the detentions on Monday were carried out with the use of force, and journalists covering the protests were reported to have been pushed around by the police. Police spokespeople told Interfax the demonstrators were detained on charges of refusing to obey police officers.

May 1 2022

“At this time when we cannot ignore the suffering in Ukraine, we also honor through our music the Armenian people, victims of genocide in 1915, by looking at what they lost and what it means to be lost.” –Pianist Marta Aznavoorian

 

Multiple Grammy-nominated pianist Marta Aznavoorian chose April 24, the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide when 1.2 million women, children, and the elderly were arrested and exiled on death marches from Turkey, as the release date of her album Gems From Armenia. She and her sister, cellist Ani Aznavoorian, will perform music from the album, which spotlights music from their ancestral homeland, at the Music Institute of Chicago’s concert May 15th in Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston.

“We were raised in the Chicago area, but we look back two and three generations to see what it must have been like for those brave people who survived to abandon their own country and enter a new one. We reflect on Ukraine and the Holocaust as well. Even after 100 years, the Armenian community still feels the impact of that genocide,” she says.

 

The Cedille Records’ album marks the recording debut of her and her sister’s joint ensemble, the Aznavoorian Duo. She describes the Armenian music chosen for her CD as “very melancholy, very passionate, all in a minor mode.” Among the works that the Aznavoorian Duo have chosen will be by the Armenian priest, Komitas, the composer, musicologist, and singer thought to be the founder of the Armenian national school of music.

During the genocide, he was one of the many Armenian intellectuals arrested and sent to a prisoner of war camp by the Ottomans. A few years before the genocide, Komitas spent summers in the Armenian countryside, developing a close relationship with villagers, transcribing and preserving rural Armenian songs that became his book of 50 songs. In saving and recording so many of these folk songs, Komitas is thought to have saved the cultural heritage of Western Armenia.

“Komitas documented thousands of songs, which have survived. Even though he survived the genocide and was finally moved to a hospital in Paris, the atrocities that he saw were too much for him,” Aznavoorian explains.

The program also features selections from the CD, including works by Alexander Arutiunian, Arno Babajanian, Aram Khachaturian, Serouj Kradjian, Vache Sharafyan, and Avet Terterian.

 Aznavoorian grew up in Barrington in a family that loved classical music: “I often performed at church as I was growing up, and I think my father always hoped that my brother, sister, and I would perform as a trio. I began my classes at the Music Institute as a young child and studied there until college.”

She continues, “The Music Institute has really expanded in recent years and offers education at a very high level. There are many more live performances and efforts to make its music accessible for all. I love exploring music with my students, both children and adults. I am teaching most of the day, with travels to performances usually every other weekend.”

Having performed internationally as an orchestral soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and many other acclaimed institutions, she is a founding member of the celebrated Lincoln Trio, which has toured the world with its performances.

A faculty member in the Music Institute’s Piano Department since 1999, she recently was named to the prestigious position as Artist in Residence. This position, made possible by the support of Jim Stone, encourages, promotes, and rewards excellence in musicianship and instruction while acknowledging excellent faculty contributions to their field, the Institute, and the community. She is expanding her ambassadorial work for the Music Institute to support performances, master classes, community outreach, and fundraising activities.

Aznavoorian, also a lecturer at the DePaul School of Music, has recently founded Keynote Productions, a non-profit which awards scholarships to underserved students wanting to further their musical education.

On teaching online during the pandemic, she says, “In that dark and lonely time, I discovered that this was a very nice alternative. I still have students who prefer to study online and if someone is feeling a little sick, you don’t have to worry. I love to teach and this is a great opportunity for me too, so even when I am on the road, we have been able to carry on with my students’ love of music.”

Though she feels she is not yet at the “finish line” of her career, Aznavoorian is enjoying all that she does and the close relationships she has with places like the Music Institute: “I have great admiration for Mark George, the Institute’s president and CEO, who with all his other accomplishments has made the faculty feel like family to one another. As Artist in Residence, I am asked to represent the Institute whose mission is very compatible to my own. I now have more opportunities to make decisions, be more of a presence in my master classes, and cultivate our mission.”

 

The Aznavoorian Duo will perform Sunday, May 15, at 3 p.m. at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston. The performance also will be available online streaming live. For more information, visit nicholsconcerthall.org.

https://classicchicagomagazine.com/music-from-her-homeland/

New York – April 20 2022

Since 1975, Armen Donelian, a founding faculty member of the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, has performed as a jazz pianist in more than 25 countries around the world, and recorded 14 albums, including “Fresh Start” that was released on April 1st on Sunnyside Records.

Recently, Donelian was selected by the U.S. State Department to serve as a Fulbright Specialist for a musical project in Romania, where he’ll engage with students, faculty, and administrators at the National University of Music in Bucharest, as well as interact with others in both academic and social settings. He will also present a concert on May 14th at Transylvania University in the historic city of Brasov, which will include original compositions, free improvisations, Jazz standards, and a few Armenian songs.

“It’s an honor to be selected by the US State Department and entrusted with the responsibility of representing the United States abroad, and so naturally I feel pleased and humbled,” said Donelian. “I’m eager to exchange ideas with people in Romania, formally and informally, to listen to and learn more about Romanian views on European history and current events (including, of course, the war in Ukraine), and to share my world views as they appear to me from this side of the pond.”

Donelian is hopeful that his time in Romania will give people new perspectives on hearing, composing, playing, studying, teaching, and thinking about music, as well as exposing them to the various possibilities for their own personal role in the musical world.

“It’s so important to participate in projects like this because remaining engaged is the way to improve the world,” he shared. “Education, the arts and diplomacy are some of the best ways to do this. This Fulbright project utilizes all three modalities.”

In addition to his time in Romania, Donelian is also hard at work promoting his new CD, alongside bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Dennis Mackrel. They’ll be performing on Friday, May 27th at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn. More information can be found here.

News.cn, China

Wang Yi said that China and Armenia are good friends of mutual trust and good partners of sincere cooperation, and that China welcomes Armenia's early accession to the Global Development Initiative.

BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhua) — Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday held a conversation with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan over phone.

During the phone conversation, Wang said that China and Armenia are good friends of mutual trust and good partners of sincere cooperation.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago, the relations between the two countries have stood the test of changing international situation and always kept to the right direction, with fruitful results achieved, Wang said.

The Chinese side is satisfied with the outcomes of bilateral cooperation and full of confidence in the prospect of bilateral relations, he said.

The two sides should take the opportunity of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties to continue to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and push forward the sustained development of bilateral relations, Wang said.

A girl from Armenia takes photos with kids from a Peking Opera performance group in Xiaopu Town, Changxing County of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 11, 2019. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

China will, as always, respect Armenia's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and support the development path chosen by the Armenian people in light of their national conditions, Wang said.

China believes that Armenia will continue to firmly support China's position on issues concerning China's core interests, adhere to the one-China policy and oppose any form of "Taiwan independence," Wang said.

China welcomes Armenia's early accession to the Global Development Initiative, Wang added.

Mirzoyan congratulated on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, and appreciated China's firm support for Armenia's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

The Armenian foreign minister stressed that Armenia will continue to pursue the one-China policy and fully support China in safeguarding its core interests.

Armenia attaches great importance to developing relations with China, Mirzoyan said, noting that Armenia is ready to deepen exchanges and cooperation with China in all areas, strengthen communication and coordination on international and regional affairs and push for greater progress in bilateral relations.  ■

https://english.news.cn/20220421/f3774f38f1724479ab666432b08f435c/c.html 

April 5 2022