It is welcomed and appreciated when Armenian orchestras invite Armenian musicians as guest musicians. Maestro Eduard Topchyan adopted such a policy a long time ago. He was the first to introduce to the Armenian audience such young artists as soprano Anna Kasyan from France, cellist Xavier Phillips-Varjabédian, violinist Catherine Manukyan from Canada, trumpeter Armen Aslanyan from Syria, flutist Elen Virabyan from Russia; you can’t list them all. Our young compatriots in Armenia often have such performances and meetings that we can confidently say they will remember for the rest of their lives.
For example, in 2021, the legendary Italian conductor, Riccardo Muti, was in the audience at the Yerevan concert of pianist Maya Ohanyan (Russia) under the direction of Eduard Topchyan with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia. After Maya’s performance Riccardo Muti said that he was surprised by the performance maturity of the young pianist, and speaking to us about Beethoven’s 3rd piano concerto, presented the legendary Sviatoslav Richter’s opinion about the performance of the same concert.
“Richter insisted that the beginning of the 3rd movement of the concerto should not be played beautifully or pleasantly, as everyone else does, but should be played tighter, more violently. And what I heard a little while ago, in particular, that very part, surprisingly coincided with Richter’s ideas.” In 2018, 14-year-old Eva Gevorgyan (Russia) presented herself for the first time in her homeland. She won not one, two, or three, but dozens of international competitions at that age. According to our information, a section from Chopin’s second concerto, by a young pianist and our philharmonic player, posted on the Internet got the attention of Valery Gergiev‘s attention and an invitation for her was followed. We met Eva again last year at the Philharmonic’s invitation. However, this time the renowned German conductor Alexander Liebreich was at the conductor’s panel.
Moreover, Eva Gevorgyan and the conductor are laureates of dozens of international competitions. We chose Eva and Maya from among our compatriots who were born, studied, and recently started their careers abroad because on February 10 at the “Aram Khachatryan” concert hall, they performed together at the regular concert of the Philharmonic under the direction of maestro Topchyan, playing Mozart’s concerto for two pianos. . During the break of the main rehearsal, the pianists informed that they met during the tour in 2022. in the summer, in Venice.
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Maya remembered 2021 when she performed with the Armenian Philharmonic in Rome, and the presidents of Armenia and Italy were present at the concert. Eva also recalled that last year she arrived in Yerevan right after the end of the Rachmaninoff competition. Young musicians with last names ending in “yan” shined in the competition held in three categories: “Pianists,” “Conductors,” and “Composers”: pianists Ilya Papoyan, Konstantin Khachikyan, Eva Gevorgyan, conductor Gurgen Petrosyan. She joked that even in the “Composers” category, if there were an Armenian participant, they would win. When asked what their plans are after Yerevan, Maya’s and Eva’s answers were almost the same; if we try to summarize it, it will be: cooperation with prestigious orchestras and famous conductors, also participation in festivals and, as the pianists assured, they will continue to participate in master classes. To the half-joking-half-serious question: do they not intend to increase their awards by participating in competitions? Maya said that in 2022 she started collaborating with the Italian cellist, Ettore Pagano the winner of last year’s competition named after Aram Khachatryan. And Eva, without elaborating, added that there is much talk about the competition called after Aram Khachatryan among musicians of their age.
Reflecting on the concert and being excited by Mozart’s concerto written for two pianos and an orchestra, our compatriots unanimously stated that they usually create valuable works at a young age. For example, Mozart wrote the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra at 23. We will also add that this concerto has an exciting history; the first performers had to be the author and his sister, but from Mozart’s letters, we learn that a rich man’s daughter named Josephine, who was in love with the composer and tried her best to be close to him, also used joint performances, performed this work with the author.
Samvel DANIELYAN
“Aravot” daily, 10.02.2023
