Author: Lilit Nahapetian

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
February 7, 2018 Wednesday


Monaco Prince cuts short his tour to meet with Aram Khachaturyan:
Renowned composer's meetings with Royal families



YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. During his tours renowned Armenian
composer Aram Khachaturyan met with the leaders of countries, received
interesting offers, as well as valuable gifts from them.

ARMENPRESS this time presents the composer’s meetings with the Royal families.

The composer was on tour in Belgium in 1960. Queen Elizabeth was
unable to attend his concert due to health problems, but after the
concert people approached Khachaturyan and conveyed the Queen’s
invitation to meet. Accepting the invitation with pleasure, the next
day the renowned composer and his wife were hosted at the Queen’s
Palace. “They had a very warm and interesting meeting. The Queen
Elizabeth had a great contribution in the art world the evidence of
which is the international contest named after her. She also played
violin and has been taught by renowned violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. This is
the reason that the Armenian composer and the Queen talked about the
art, the innovations in the music art, the composer’s creative path
and the Brussels Symphonic Orchestra. They have also talked about
people they know among whom were world-renowned musicians”, director
of the Aram Khachaturyan House-Museum Armine Grigoryan said.

The Queen also had a little knowledge of Russian the evidence of which
is her note written on a photograph. The photos of this meeting are
still kept in the Museum.

In 1973 the composer was invited to France where his 70th anniversary
was celebrated with a great event. During this tour he decided to
visit Monaco. During this period the Monaco Prince and his wife,
world-renowned star Grace Kelly, were outside the country, but being
informed about the composer’s visit, they returned from London cutting
short their tour and immediately arrived in the house where
Khachaturyan stopped. The Prince as well was very fond of art and he
organized different contests and festivals in his country every two
years dedicated to the composer art. In 1974 he not only invited the
composer to the contest-festival, but also asked to write a new work
to be performed at the opening ceremony of the festival.

Again on a concert tour in Iran in 1965, the Persian Shah showed his
sympathy to the composer by providing one of his personal vehicles to
the composer for touring the country. The Persian Shah and his wife
also attended Khachaturyan’s concert during which the Second Symphony
was performed. Usually, after the completion of the concert the Shah
left the concert hall, but this case differed from the remaining ones.
The Shah and his wife applauded the maestro as a result of which he
again performed his works.

Then the Shah and his wife went to the backstage to meet with the
renowned composer the evidence of which is the photo still maintained.
The Persian Shah handed over many gifts to the composer, among which
was quite a valuable Persian blue carpet. Khachatruyan brought it to
Moscow to decorate his apartment.

In 1961 during the trip in Egypt, President Gamal Abdel Nasserwelcomed
him at the airport. The Egyptian President also attended the
composer’s concert. He handed over one of the highest certificates of
the country to Aram Khachaturyan for the great contribution in the
field of art. During the same tour Khachaturyan also met with
President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito.

Anna Grigoryan

Photo – courtesy of Aram Khachaturyan House Museum

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ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Friday


President: Adventurers should realize that attempts to shake the
state's foundations in Armenia are doomed to failure, no issue will be
resolved through violence and weapons

Yerevan December 22

Tatevik Shahunyan. In the activity of the National Security Service of
Armenia, the priority was and remains the preservation of the
constitutional order in the country, said at a solemn meeting
dedicated to the Day of an employee of the national security,
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

"Adventurers should realize that attempts to shake the state's
foundations in Armenia are doomed to failure.In Armenia, no issue will
be resolved through violence and weapons.The monopoly on the
legitimate use of force belongs to the Republic of Armenia.All issues
should be resolved in accordance with the laws and the Constitution" ,
Sargsyan stated, stressing that there is no doubt that the National
Security Service of Armenia is capable of stopping all attempts at
encroachment on the statehood. "The evidence of my words is your
effective actions during the July events in Yerevan (the capture by
the Sasna Tsrer group of the Polka Patrol Police Service)," the head
of state said, advising all those who plan to bypass the Constitution
to achieve the personal ambitions and ambitions of individual groups
,refrain from such plans, because law enforcement agencies of the
republic within the law can easily neutralize these attempts.

Further, the president praised the staff of the National Security
Service for effective struggle against transnational and intra-state
crimes.

He also focused on the effective fight against corruption. According
to him, during the last year, high- profile corruption crimes were
revealed. "This is a good signal both for the society and for
high-ranking officials," the president said, stressing that the fight
against corruption is on serious lines, but more work is needed. "In
your structure I must stress that the fight against such corrosive
phenomena must be more acute and tough, and my expectations in this
area are very large from you. I am sure that you will have enough
experience and skills to effectively combat this evil. It is necessary
to work actively in all state structures, especially in the judicial
and legal system, "the president said.

The head of state drew the attention of the sphere's employees and
reports of international organizations on fighting corruption.
"Armenia should not deviate from its positions in these reports, for
this purpose it is necessary to identify and remove all the
shortcomings," Sargsyan said, stressing that positive dynamics is
needed in the fight against Armenia's corruption. "We did it and do it
not for international structures, but for ourselves, our fellow
citizens are waiting for us, and we can not retreat in this
direction." I will not accept any justifications, "he said.

The President highly appreciated the work of the special services
during all-republican events, including during the elections. At the
same time he reminded that in 2018 three major events are expected in
Armenia, the proper and safe conduct of which is a matter of honor.
"And the lion's share of responsibility for this will fall on your
shoulders: the festivities in honor of the 100th anniversary of the
Republic of Armenia and the May victories, the 2800th anniversary of
Yerevan and the Francophonie summit." My instruction is to prepare
very seriously for these events, "he said. He added that these events
open new horizons for presenting Armenia to the world. Summarizing his
speech, the President stressed that his main goal is to form the best
service of national security not only in the region, but also on the
international arena. To this end, Sargsyan focused on the need to
improve the level of training of NSS officers and the technical
re-equipment of the structure. He also did not ignore the social
problems of the NSS staff.