November 18, 2016 | Press Releases (/news/press)

AGBU France Performing Arts Department Holds Concert at SalleCortot in Paris

On October 15, the AGBU France Performing Arts Department held a concert at SalleCortot in Paris in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Republic of Armenia and the110th anniversary of the founding of AGBU. The concert, entitled “Artists for Artists,”brought together nine musicians from Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal andSwitzerland to honor both momentous occasions.

In attendance were eminent members of the Armenian and French communities,including Levon Amirjanyan, Minister Counselor at the Armenian Embassy in Paris; HaykArsenyan, Director of AGBU Performing Arts Department in New York; VictoriaBagdassarian, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Italy; Hasmik Meliksetyan,Deputy Representative of Nagorno­Karabakh in France; and Pastor Joël Mikaélian of theArmenian Evangelical Church of Issy­les­Moulineaux.

The concert also provided the opportunity to distribute cash prizes and special prizes tothe winners of the 2016 Sayat Nova International Composition Competition. DzovinarMikirditsian (Lebanon­France) was awarded first prize and Special Prize of the ArmenianPhilharmonic Orchestra; Alexandr Iradyan (Armenia­Germany) received second prize and

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the Special Carnegie Hall Prize; and Joshua Marquez (Philippines­USA) earned thirdprize. The jury—composed of international musicians and composers such as VahanMardirossian and Vache Sharafyan from Armenia; Jean­Louis Agobet, Bruno Mantovaniand Paul Méfano from France; and Alfonso Molina from Mexico—also gave Dohi Moon(South Korea­Germany) a special mention for her submission to the competition. Allapplicants wrote a piece of eight to ten minutes for the shvi (traditional Armenian flute),string quartet and male tenor with a quote from the poetry of Gregory of Narek. The worksof the three winners will be published by the Composers’ Union of Armenia’s ArmusicPublishing House.

The evening included speeches by Nadia Gortzounian, President of AGBU France andAGBU Europe, and Christian Erbslöh­Papazian, Artistic Director of PAD France, who bothemphasized the commitment of AGBU to the arts and its desire to transmit Armenianculture. “Our greatest strength is our culture. This is why PAD is important for theinfluence of the Armenian community in France and in the world, in particular because itpromotes exchange between Armenian artists. It is very moving that a community istransformed into siblings to do the most beautiful thing in the world: play music together,”said co­artistic director of the concert Varduhi Yeritsyan.

The concert was composed of pieces by Armenian and non­Armenian composers alike,including Babajanian, Brahms, Dvorak, Gomidas and Schumann and featured a specialcameo appearance by Tigran Hamasyan, who performed new compositions from hisupcoming album. Following this concert, a cocktail party was hosted by the MaisonPetrossian for the artists and sponsors of this event, including the law firm Cabinet NACand the electronics company Menesys.

For more information on the AGBU Performing Arts Department, please visitwww.agbuperformingarts.com (http://www.agbuperformingarts.com).

Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org (http://www.agbu.org)) is the world's largestnon­profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU preserves andpromotes the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural andhumanitarian programs, annually touching the lives of some 500,000 Armenians aroundthe world.

For more information about AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visitwww.agbu.org (http://www.agbu.org)