His longing international festival will launch from the composer’s house
On July 29, Avet Terterian would have turned 86 years old. The composer is best known for his symphonies, which were new by their innovation and the unique use of the Armenian spiritual music monodies not only in the Armenian composing art, but also in the Soviet and the global music. In some of his symphonies, he used instruments like duduk, dhol, tar and so on. The late wife of the composer, musicologist Irina Tigranovna, once told “Aravot”, “Avet Rubenich refused the classical harmony system and its binding rules. His music style is merged with foreign avant-gardism and the folk music. For Terterian, one musical sound has an importance of a whole theme. He can create and make the music alive with this one musical sound.”
The RA Ministry of Culture and St. Petersburg’s “Culture and the Future” Foundation for Support and Development, on the birthday of the genius composer, at his home in Hayravank, will hold the “Terterian’s time” international festival. “Aravot” met with the Founding President of “Culture and the Future” Foundation, also the Chairman of the Armenian Apostolic Church in St. Petersburg, also the President of the Armenian Community in St. Petersburg, Karen Mkrtchian.
“I have constantly studied Terterian’s music, but for some reason, I was thinking that the composer will be understood only in the end of the 21st century. Renowned theater critic Maria Baghdasaryan and stage director Levon Shurin visited me, who turned out to be the fans of Terterian’s art, and as a result of our talk, we organized Terterian’s readings in Yekaterinburg and other cities. An idea came to my mind to organize an international festival in Armenia, especially in the composer’s house in Hayravank, which was Avet Rubenich’s dream. The festival naturally will be attended by well-known musicians, journalists, and «Kultura» TV will transform the festival on a recording tape, and the film director Ruben Kochar will shoot a film with an expectation to show it in various competition in the future,” said Mr. Mkrtchian.
Karen Mkrtchian
In his words, “Terterian’s music condenses the past, present and the future, and in the 21st century, the world will recognize Armenia with Terterian.” He also assured that the festival will become traditional, specifically in 2016, together with the RA Composers’ and Musicians’ Union and the Yerevan Opera House, in support of the RA Ministry of Culture, a festival will be hosted in Dilijan.
We asked the Head of the Armenian community in St. Petersburg to present the life of local Armenians, particularly the cultural events. “100,000 Armenians are living in St. Petersburg and the region and I am the Head of the Community for nearly 10 years. The Community revival began in 1987 when the father Ezras Nersisyan arrived in Leningrad. At that time, two Armenian churches were re-opened in Petersburg, a Sunday school and the “Havatamq” bilingual monthly (editor Armen Meruzhanyan). A printing house was opened attached to the newspaper, where about 100 name books are published to date. They represent our history, science and culture, in a word, the historic legacy of the century-old Armenian world.”
Mr. Mkrtchyan noted that with the help of the Community, there is rich theological library in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, there are computer classrooms opened in the Seminary and the Vaskenian Theological Academy, in short, they help Armenia focusing on the schools and kindergartens. He remembered the years of 2010 when the 300th anniversary of the Community was celebrated, he said that these festive celebrations were honored by their presence the presidents of Russia and Armenia, the busts of Orbely and academician Armen Takhtajian were opened. In 2011, nearby the church, the Armenian-Russian “Vernatun” Cultural Center was built, and the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor Mihran Aghajanyan) was established attached to the Cultural Center.
“There are 100 musicians in the orchestra who are the students of Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg. The orchestra plays the Armenian music in the best stages,” affirms Karen Mkrtchian. He also presented the “New Generation” of the Youth Union, whose students take part in the beauty contests up to sports and cultural events. There was a reference to the Sunday School with about 200 pupils. As for the N 259 Armenian Gymnasium operating for 8 years (Director Astghik Kocharyan), there are young people from 10 nations studying there, in the coming future, it will be renamed after the minister of Russian Empire, Loris Melikov, who is known for his reforms, soon, the Komitas statue (author Levon Beybutyan) will be opened in the Yerevan park.
To the question of what events are held to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, Mr. Mkrtchyan replied, “The events were launched on April 24, 2014. Nowhere in the world, in terms of quality and quantity, were conducted events like in St. Petersburg. I will mention just one or two of them. The Mariinsky Theater, the National Library, the Philharmonic Chappelle, conferences headed by Mikhail Piatrovsky, international competitions at the University, Conservatory and the Academy of Fine Arts.”
Samvel DANIELYAN,
“Aravot” daily
