The “Sev Berd” (Black Fortress) Fortress built in Gyumri in 1834, which is included in the list of historical monuments, will host the “Gyumri Rock Fest 2016” festival participants in September this year. Note that the fortress is now owned by Gyumri Mayor Samvel Balasanyan who after the renovations turned a part of it into a Concert Hall. In an interview with Aravot.am, the chief producer of “Gyumri Rock Fest 2016”, Tigran Virabyan said that the opening ceremony of the concert hall has not happened yet, but it is already ready and will host the first great international rock festival of its kind under the celebration events dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the independence of Armenia. According to our interlocutor, the companies providing the technical part have conducted researches and have come to a conclusion that almost everything in the “Sev Berd” Concert Hall is ready to conduct such a festival.
“According to me, it is a very interesting space, when we send photos to the producers of foreign groups, they express a great satisfaction and are also surprised that in this small country there can be such a wonderful architectural structure which is also a concert hall. The location is very encouraging; Gyumri is strongly mirrored here,” – said our interlocutor. As noted by Tigran Virabyan, according to experts’ calculations, 1500 people fit into the hall. And since the area is being used for the first time, they will strictly keep to all the rules and the entrance will be by invitations and the festival on foot. “Watching a concert on foot is one of the principles of the festival, we are going to have an amphitheater style, the stage is in the center and people gather all around. The hall has balconies with seats for special guests, for people with limited abilities who want to attend the festival and it is required to provide seats for them. Also, there will be special lodges for the camera crew. In short, we have taken everything into account, this is a difficult task because we are all acquainted with the territory for the first time, and it is the first time we are conducting an event here. I must say that it is true, there is a great interest in the festival but the significant segment of the public are interested in the facility and the location. Many people want to know what the ruins are turned into. I can say that this is one of the spectacular concert halls in Armenia, it contains the historical-cultural taste and most importantly, this location is very Gyumri.
This location is also very attractive for filming when a person looks at the photo, he immediately understands that this location is in Gyumri, Gyumri preserved a lot. For a long time, Gyumri was unable to fulfill large-scale projects just because of limited conditions for the concert halls. There are groups and participants who set up specific conditions related to the number of seats in the hall.” As noted by Tigran Virabyan, discussing the venue and day of the festival with the mayor, they agreed to hold the festival in the framework of Gyumri Day celebrations. According to our interlocutor, it is supported by the Ministry of Culture. The total budget of the festival is 11 million drams, and the Ministry of Culture transfers 6 million drams to “Tsiranapogh” NGO. The organizers of the festival are trying to raise 5 million drams in various ways, they have applied to Samvel Balasanyan who has suggested writing a letter to Gyumri Council for consideration to provide some financial assistance for the festival. Tigran Virabyan says that they have applied to the Governor of Shirak Marz to finance this cultural event that is so important for the city; they have also some expectations from the private sectors. According to Tigran Virabyan, if there is funding, they will be able to invite a larger number of groups to Gyumri. The festival will be attended by international rock bands from Ireland, Russia, France, Georgia and other places, as well as a large number of audience. The festival plans to have local concerts in the historical and cultural site of Gyumri, such as at the courtyard of Dzitoghtsian house-museum, Varpetats street…
Tigran Virabyan said that one of the pride of Gyumri – “Bambir” rock ensemble – has taken on the entire creative burden. Soloist Narek Barseghyan is in charge of creative and artistic part of the concert, he is also dealing with the issue of selecting bands and invitations. “Bambir” is having a one-year tour in the US, but the members of the band have come to Gyumri specifically for this festival to be engaged in the organizational matters. As presented by our interlocutor, in addition to the rock festival, this concert hall will also hold Tigran Mansuryan’s jubilee evenings. “Together with Maestro Robert Mlkeyan, we have decided to organize Tigran Mansuryan’s jubilee evening in the participation of State Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Choir of Armenia. We have looked at several concert halls in the city: Drama Theatre, “Our Lady of Armenia” and then “Sev Berd” Fortress halls, and in the end, one of the high-rank specialists of choral art of Armenia stressed that if we are going to have Tigran Mansuryan’s evening and we want to get ideal sounding, acoustics, definitely we should do it in the “Sev Berd” Fortress. And already for October, we have planned to have Tigran Mansuryan’s jubilee evening in this fortress. In the coming days, we are expecting that Maestro Mansuryan will visit Gyumri and see the location once, listen to the sounding, and we will do the rest of the work to finalize the technical and creative tasks,” – said Tigran Virabyan.
Photos by Tigran Virabyan
Nune AREVSHATYAN
