Adam Khudoyan (1921-2000) - Sonata for Violin Solo (1980) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-04-29 | Movses Pogossian, violinDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIConcert 6 - April 23, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Beethoven Op. 131 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2022-02-02 | Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian, violinsChe-Yen Chen, violaPeter Stumpf, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIIConcert 6 - April 15, 2018Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Songs of Gratitude Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-11-29 | Virtual Thanksgiving Concert for Families of Armenian HeroesTax-deductible donations: armenianwoundedheroes.com/1000plus In celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, Armenian-American classical musicians have come together for the families of Armenian heroes. Organized by the Pogossian/Manouelian musician family, Songs of Gratitude is a virtual Thanksgiving concert of classical music, in support of the Insurance Foundation for Servicemen (1000plus.am). Featured performers include the Pogossian/Manouelian family (Anoush, Cara, Edvard, Varty, Movses), as well as their distinguished colleagues and friends in the field of classical music: Kim Kashkashian, Sergei Babayan, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Boris Allakhverdyan, Artur Avanesov, Lilit Shougarian, Shoushik Barsoumian, Danielle Segen, Eva Aronian, and Vatche Jambazian. The award-winning Armenian actor Michael Poghosyan (Lorik, Yerevan Blues) also makes a special appearance.The Insurance Foundation for Servicemen (1000plus.am) was created to insure the social well-being of soldiers who are serving Armenia, as well as their families. Every employed person in Armenia, by giving 1000 drams ($2) every month to the Foundation, insures a soldier’s life. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Songs of Gratitude aspires to encourage diaspora Armenians to join in the noble cause of helping the families of Armenian heroes.00:10 Ambassador Armen Baibourtian appeal01:42 Varoujan Avedikian appeal02:44 Komitas/Aslamazyan - Ampel A (Clouds)05:30 Danielle Segen appeal07:00 Komitas/Aslamazyan - Oror (Lullaby)10:48 Bach - Aria, from Orchestral Suite No. 213:35 Lilit Shougarian appeal14:38 Babajanyan - Elegy18:17 Mansurian - Havik22:50 Bartók - Quartet No. 2, Allegro molto capriccioso30:50 Rachmaninov - Prelude, Op. 32, no. 1234:10 Mozart - Clarinet Quintet KV 561, Adagio40:35 Ida Kavafian appeal41:56 Ani Kavafian appeal42:50 Najarian - Capture (Groung)47:50 Arutiunian - Finale from Suite (1994)52:33 Avanesov - Feux Follets55:40 Komitas/Aslamazyan - Shogher Jan (Dear Shogher)59:45 Michael Poghosyan appeal1:00:35 Gaetano Lama - Reginella1:05:20 Coleridge-Taylor - Clarinet Quintet, Op. 10, Larghetto affettuoso1:11:50 Rachmaninov/Volodos - Andante, Op. 19/1000plus film1:13:15 Anoush Pogossian appeal1:14:03 Krouse - Hov Arek, after Komitas1:17:14 Avanesov - Let Us All Hear Angels Singing The Worship of Light (2011)1:21:55 Varoujan Avedikian appeal1:23:18 Komitas/Aslamazyan - Al Ayloughs (Red Shawl)1:25:20 Komitas/Aslamazyan - Kagavik (Partridge)1:27:13 Brahms - Clarinet Sonata, Op. 120, Andante un poco adagio1:32:20 Shostakovich - Quartet No. 10, Allegretto furioso1:40:00 Shoushik Barsoumian appeal1:36:23 Bach - Erbarme Dich, from St. Matthew’s Passion BWV 2441:43:38 Bruch - Romantic Pieces, Op. 81, Nachtgezang1:50:05 Najarian - Misty Morning (Lament)1:52:25 Komitas/Aslamazyan - Chinar Es1:56:55 Varoujan Avedikian appeal1:57:55 Rachmaninov - Lilacs, from Songs Op. 122:01:05 Movses Pogossian appeal2:02:28 Kartalyan - Lullaby for Patil2:05:55 CreditsHeartfelt thanks to the following individuals and organizations who contributed to the creation of the Songs of GratitudeVaroujan Avedikian, CEO, Insurance Foundation for ServicemenIrene BaghdasaryanHasmik BaghdasaryanAmbassador Armen Baibourtian, Ph.D., Consul General of Armenia in Los AngelesAni KaramyanSergey ParfenovJustus SchlichtingLark Musical SocietyDilijan Chamber Music SeriesArmenian Music Program, UCLA Herb Alpert School of MusicThe Promise Armenian Institute at UCLAInsurance Foundation for Servicemen (1000plus.am)
From Our Home to Yours Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-04-24 | From Our Home to YoursArmenian Genocide Commemoration concert by the Pogossian/Manouelian familyApril 23, 2020, 7:00 PM PSTIf you enjoyed the concert, please consider supporting these worthy causes:** Music For Food (in support of food services of the Midnight Mission, Skid Row, Los Angeles) DONATE HERE musicforfood.net** COVID-19 Campaign in support of free-lance musicians, by Gabriela Lena Frank’s Creative Academy of Music DONATE HERE charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/glfcamgigthrucovid?fbclid=IwAR2xCBI8WLYL1ru9Au5iwVO570TYN8ajRH3V5it1CSkGrDmbCxsZ5IlVvGg** UCLA Armenian Music Program - DONATE HERE https://giving.ucla.edu/campaign/donate.aspx?fund=61313O&fbclid=IwAR1-c6wtmxy4bfMIy6gsF0P5remsN-FQtqT4qekW6y0-ndD_3Ozkrb9aCgc** Lark Musical Society/Dilijan Chamber Music Series, Glendale, CA DONATE HERE dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org/support Program0:19 Komitas - Oror (voice of Danielle Segen)4:27 Komitas - Ampel A (Clouds)7:15 Komitas - Garoun A (Spring)12:45 J. S. Bach - Air from Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV 106718:15 Ian Krouse - Hov Arek, after Komitas - World Premiere*21:22 W. A. Mozart - Allegro from String Quartet, K. 42132:42 Aida Shirazi - Blood Moon - World Premiere*38:21 Komitas - Al Ayloughs (Red Shawl)41:42 W. A. Mozart - Adagio from Clarinet Quintet, K. 58149:14 Komitas - Shogher Jan (Dear Shogher)53:22 Komitas - Chinar Es (Tall as the Poplar Tree)1:01:25 Artashes Kartalyan - Lullaby for Patil - World Premiere**for program notes, please scroll downPerformersAnoush Pogossian, clarinetVarty Manouelian and Movses Pogossian, violinsCara Pogossian, violaEdvard Pogossian, celloFor more performances, please visit the Pogossian Family Youtube Channel:youtube.com/channel/UChL_tsw-i22kaRbbPI5Be2Q?view_as=subscriberCredits and ThanksSergey Parfenov, recording engineerJustus Schlichting, editorDanielle Segen, mezzo-sopranoThomas Segen, pianoAmb. Armen Baibourtian, PhD., Consul General of ArmeniaGabriela Lena Frank, composerLark Musical SocietyVatsche BarsoumianAshot KartalyanIrene BaghdasaryanUCLA Herb Alpert School of MusicLawrence AldavaHasmik BaghdasaryanLuis HenaoValentina MartinezAva Sadripour*Composers' notesIan Krouse - Hov Arek, after KomitasOf all the folksongs that Komitas collected and arranged Hov arek must have held a special appeal for him, for he chose to include a haunting a cappella version of it for his 1912 Paris recording.As I prepared to create my own version I stayed away from the many arrangements of this song that one may find, choosing instead to listen to Komitas’s own performance (which I listened to countless times), along with renditions of his own arrangement with a simple, characteristically understated piano accompaniment. I decided to keep my version as simple as possible, and not to stray too far from Komitas’ arrangement. My Hov Arek is dedicated to the Pogossian family with great admiration and affection. It could not have been made without the help of Vatsche Barsoumian. Aida Shirazi - Blood Moon“…And the dark night was deserted, like the vast infinite;And, with the lonely and bloody moon,Like a myriad motionless marble statues,All the dead bodies of our earth arose to pray for one another.”This is the closing paragraph of the Prayer by the Armenian poet, Siamanto. Once I read Prayer, I found myself fascinated with the beauty and allure that Siamanto has created through the incredibly dark, violent, and melancholic imagery. A miniature for clarinet and string quartet, Blood Moon is my musical answer to Prayer, where the glissandi in the strings rise from a dark and cloudy texture, while the clarinet soars from and disappears into its lowest register, and call others to rise and move.I took advantage of the musical evocativeness of the Armenian folk song, Loosin Yelav (The Moon Has Risen) and the literal connection of its text to Siamanto’s poem, and quoted short fragments of the song towards the end of Blood Moon.Artashes Kartalyan - Lullaby for PatilThe “Lullaby for Patil” is dedicated to my newborn granddaughter. True to its name, the lullaby moves slowly and softly, with a delicate opening by the first violin introducing the work. The clarinet then carries the main theme—a tranquil yet soothing melody with a sweet touch of Armenian color. The first violin later joins with the counter theme. The middle section is more lively, in pursuit of richer harmonic colors. Indeed the emotional climax at the end of the middle section marks the return of the first theme with violin one and the counter theme with the clarinet in the high register. The coda finally calms it all down, and the child is fast asleep.
Daniel Sedgwick - Walters Songs (2020), for soprano and violin - World Premiere Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-04-19 | Walters Songs, for soprano and violin (2020, premiere) texts by Henry Walters music by Dan Sedgwick I. Mayday – Prelude (Moonrise) – II. Sappho (168b)Tony Arnold, sopranoVarty Manouelian, violinDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 5 - March 8, 2020Zipper Hall, Los Angelesdilijan.larkmusicalsociety.orgProgram notes (by Dan Sedgwick):These songs set two contrasting poems by New Hampshire-based poet Henry Walters (b.1984). The first sounds the desperate alarm of a queen bee whose colony has collapsed; the second spins free-wheeling variations from an ancient fragment of lyric poetry attributed to Sappho, in which the passing moon and stars inspire the poet’s romantic imagination. In preparation for the celestial imagery of the second song, the solo violin offers a dreamlike prelude, interweaving the timeless Armenian folk song “Loosin Yelav” (a description of the rising of the moon) with fragmented motives of moon-drunk music from Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire.I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to Movses Pogossian, Justus and Elizabeth Schlichting, the Dilijan Series, and the Lark Musical Society for commissioning and presenting this work; to Henry Walters for his extraordinary poetry and for his generous communication regarding the context of his work, his creative process, and intentions; to Marji Gere for her invaluable assistance with the violin writing; and to the incomparable Tony Arnold and Varty Manouelian for bringing the piece to life.MaydayAngels of the Future, don't look now, here's news, the hive's defunct, the polis gone, & all through a valve no bigger than the lips make, bless them, sounding out the words too true. Angels of the Future, get out your long trombones, a bee's a little thing, but forty thousand gone in a shot, gone soft as wax when the sun gets in, like beads piped hot off a soldering iron, remaking the royal seal back to a blank. As a large number of anybodies seen from afar, let's call them sentinels, infinitesimal canaries, melissaries, goes liquid all at one, so off our scouts went, bless them, scouring for another temporary home, waystation, repurposed hollow haven of a rock-cleft, tree-stump, underside of a bandwagon jouncing along behind blinkered horses. Angels of the Future, get out your starter pistols & let loose, one line, one signal flare, as you never have before but will someday, I look to you for news, this is your Queen speaking, hung in a little shade of I don't know what to call this tree, quite, quite by myself, under the outright sky, it is true, the scouts are gone ahead to look but don't come back.Sappho (168b)There goes the moon, there go the Pleiades: half past midnight, the hours pass,and I lie down alone.[Me]There goes one moon, but here's the Milky Way: a waxingsister phase, a wavering untrimmed wick: like wakingto your voice in my stars. [You]And why have just the one momentous face in the sky? Why not a myriad Moon,enough to braid time by,as many moons as arewound round Jupiter,imaginary brothersto swell your tides; to stealyour sleep; to ask your pastand plait your nows and futures; to caress and kiss and tell, today into tomorrow,each brighter than the last, how many moons agotheir light was courting you and how they chase you still.
J. S. Bach - Motet Jesu Meine Freude BWV 227 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-02-18 | UCLA Seraphic Fire Young SingersJames Bass, Artistic Director and ConductorDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 4 - January 26, 2020Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
L. Beethoven - String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-02-18 | Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian, violinsPaul Coletti, violaPeter Stumpf, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 4 - January 26, 2020Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
David Haladjian - Domine Deus (1996) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-02-18 | UCLA Seraphic Fire Young SingersJames Bass, Artistic Director and ConductorDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 4 - January 26, 2020Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Komitas - Selections from the Divine Liturgy Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-02-18 | - Khorhurd Khorin- Marmin Terunakan- Surb, SurbUCLA Seraphic Fire Young SingersJames Bass, Artistic Director and ConductorDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 4 - January 26, 2020Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Alexander Arutiunian - Poem-Sonata for Violin and Piano (1980) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-20 | Movses Pogossian, violinVatche Jambazian, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 3 - December 22, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
J. Brahms - String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36, Mvt. 2 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-08 | 2. Scherzo - Allegro non troppo - Presto giocosoMovses Pogossian and Aiko Richter, violinsVarty Manouelian and Morgan O'Shaughnessey, violasRobert deMaine and Jason Pegis, cellosDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 2 - November 3, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
M. Bruch - Romantic Pieces, Op. 83 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-03 | 5. Romanische Melodie(5:10) 6. Nachtgesang: Andante con moto(11:27) 7. Allegro vivace, ma non troppoCara Pogossian, violaAnoush Pogossian, clarinetVatche Jambazian, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 3 - December 22, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
J. Brahms - String Quartet no. 1 in C minor, op. 51, Mvt. 3 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-02 | 3. Allegretto molto moderato e comodoVarty Manouelian and Movses Pogossian, violinsCara Pogossian, violaEdvard Pogossian, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 3 - December 22, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Benjamin Britten - String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94 (1975), mvt. 5 (La Serenissima) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-02 | 5. Recitative and Passacaglia (La Serenissima). SlowMovses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian, violinsChe-Yen Chen, violaClive Greensmith, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 1 - September 29, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Ashot Kartalyan - Psalm (2018, rev. 2019), for piano quartet Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-02 | Ji Eun Hwang, violin, Morgan O'Shaughnessey, viola, Jason Pegis, cello, Steven Vanhauwaert, piano(Premiere performance of the revised version)DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 2 - November 3, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Tigran Mansurian - Four Hayrens (1967, arr. 2019) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-02 | (0:07) 1. Davit Margare (Prophet David)(3:01) 2. Im hogvuyn hogi, im yar (O soul of my soul, my love)(5:30) 3. Yes ayn haverun eyi (That sort of fowl was I)(8:05) 4. Yerb yes I hashkhars eki (When I came into the world)UCLA VEM Ensemble: Danielle Segen, mezzo-soprano, Ji Eun Hwang and Aiko Richter, violins, Morgan O'Shaughnessey, viola, Jason Pegis, cello(US Premiere of the version for voice and string quartet. Arrangement by Ruben Asatryan (2019), with edits by Tigran Mansurian, Artur Avanesov, and Movses Pogossian).DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 2 - November 3, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Artashes Kartalyan - Tekeyan Triptych (2018) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-02 | (0:11) 1. Yes Siretsi (I Loved)(5:35) 2. Papaq (Wish)(8:23) 3. Hashvehardar (Ledger)UCLA VEM Ensemble: Danielle Segen, mezzo-soprano, Ji Eun Hwang and Aiko Richter, violins, Morgan O'Shaughnessey, viola, Jason Pegis, cello DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 2 - November 3, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Luciano Berio - Sequenza III for voice (1965) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-02 | Shoushik Barsoumian, sopranoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 3 - December 22, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Vache Sharafyan - nighttime illuminations (2010-19) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2020-01-02 | Movses Pogossian, violinChe-Yen Chen, violaDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XVConcert 1 - September 29, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
REVERENCE (Hommage à Kurtág) - Concert 5, Season 14 (complete concert, unedited) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2019-04-09 | Sunday, March 17, 2019, 3:00 PM “REVERENCE “(Hommage à Kurtág)(0:10) J. S. Bach (1685-1750) - "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit" (Actus tragicus) BWV 106 (arranged for string quartet by R. Valitutto)(02:45) Béla Bartók (1881-1945) – “á la memoire de Claude Debussy” from Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, Op. 20 No. 7 (1920)(04:47) Franz Schubert (1797-1828) – Moment Musical in Ab Major, Op. 94 No. 6 (1825)(10:24) Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) – Moment Musical in Db Major, Op. 16 No. 5 (1896)(14:22) Artur Avanesov (b. 1980) - Three Pieces for String Quartet (2018-19) - World Premiere- Cognitive Study of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder- Drammatico- Quand l’aubespine fleurit...(23:33) György Kurtág (b. 1926) – selections from Játékok (Books III, VI, and IX)Hommage à Schubert, 1979Hommage à Stockhausen, 1979Hommage à Varèse, 1979Adieu, Haydée, 2008A flower for Márta, 1997Hommage à Christian Wolff (Half-asleep), 1979Les Adieux (in Janáčeks Manier), 1992(31:17) Michel Petrossian (b. 1973) - Liber Secretorum Henoch (2019) - World Premiere(39:08) Artur Avanesov (b. 1980) – selections from Feux folletsOn Inexactness of All Symmetries, 2018Modulation Necklace, 2016Circle of Randomness, 2018Shivers of Autumn, 2007Modulatio (an Armenian flower for Kurtág György), 2016Intermezzo II, 2017Du bist die Ruh, 2008 (54:23) György Kurtág (b. 1926) - Six Moments Musicaux, Op. 44, for string quartet1. Invocatio (un fragment)2. Footfalls3. Capriccio4. In memoriam György Sebok5. Rappel des oiseaux (etude pour les harmoniques)6. Les Adieux (in Janáček's manner)(1:09:40) J. S. Bach (1685-1750) - "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit" (Actus tragicus) BWV 106 (arranged by G. Kurtág)Richard Valitutto, pianoMovses Pogossian and Andrew McIntosh, violinsChe Yen-Chen, violaColeman Itzkoff, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 5 - March 17, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.orgMeeting György Kurtág, working with him on several occasions, and being called by him a member of his extended family is, undoubtedly, one of the most special experiences of my life. For me, he is on the highest pedestal not only as a super-musician, but also as a super-human; a man of penetrating kindness, and unbelievable depth and modesty. Working with him and his wife Márta on the “Kafka Fragments” with soprano Tony Arnold opened the path to so much learning—not only about the piece itself, but also about music in general, and about ourselves. On a very personal note, the relationship of Márta and György Kurtág is one of the most remarkable unions that I have ever seen, a true testament to Love and Friendship. I’ll never forget the image of the two of them dropping to the floor to illustrate the union of two snakes crawling in the dust (while working with them on the spellbinding final movement of the Kafka Fragments). The Kurtág language and his world became increasingly close to me, after performing the monumental Kafka Fragments over thirty times. Therefore, practicing the Signs, Games, and Messages was a comfortable return to that unique world of naked nerves, meticulous detail, and symphonies that may last under one minute. Working on In Nomine, a comparatively long five- minute masterpiece, I could not stop thinking of a few magical days in Darmstadt back in 2008, when Kurtág worked with me on the Bartok Solo Sonata; it has such a direct spiritual connection to the Melodia from the Violin Sonata. There is no doubt in me that, in some mysterious way, Kurtág, with his piercing honesty, carries within him the life force of his idol Béla Bartók... Movses Pogossian, from liner notes of “In Nomine” CD
Artur Avanesov – selections from Feux Follets, for solo piano Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2019-04-09 | Richard Valitutto, pianoArtur Avanesov (b. 1980) – selections from Feux FolletsOn Inexactness of All Symmetries, 2018Modulation Necklace, 2016Circle of Randomness, 2018Shivers of Autumn, 2007Modulatio (an Armenian flower for Kurtág György), 2016Intermezzo II, 2017Du bist die Ruh, 2008DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 5 - March 17, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org
György Kurtág – selections from Játékok (Books III, VI, and IX) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2019-04-09 | Richard Valitutto, pianoGyörgy Kurtág (b. 1926) – selections from Játékok (Books III, VI, and IX)Hommage à Schubert, 1979Hommage à Stockhausen, 1979Hommage à Varèse, 1979Adieu, Haydée, 2008A flower for Márta, 1997Hommage à Christian Wolff (Half-asleep), 1979Les Adieux (in Janáčeks Manier), 1992DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 5 - March 17, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org
J. S. Bach - Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (Actus tragicus) BWV 106 (arranged by R. Valitutto) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2019-03-28 | Movses Pogossian, violinAndrew McIntosh, violinChe-Yen Chen, violaColeman Itzkoff, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 5 - March 17, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org
György Kurtág - Six Moments Musicaux, Op. 44 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2019-03-28 | 0:00 1. Invocatio (un fragment)1:28 2. Footfalls4:17 3. Capriccio5:39 4. In memoriam György Sebok9:22 5. Rappel des oiseaux (etude pour les harmoniques)12:09 6. Les Adieux (in Janáček's manner)Movses Pogossian, violinAndrew McIntosh, violinChe-Yen Chen, violaColeman Itzkoff, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 5 - March 17, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org
Artur Avanesov - Three Pieces for String Quartet (2018-19) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2019-03-28 | 0:00 1. Cognitive Study of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder2:50 2. Drammatico5:47 3. Quand l’aubespine fleurit...Movses Pogossian, violinAndrew McIntosh, violinChe-Yen Chen, violaColeman Itzkoff, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 5 - March 17, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.orgTHREE PIECES FOR STRING QUARTETThree Pieces for String Quartet mark the beginning of a new 'work in progress' - an open and still nameless series of pieces for the string quartet. Once complete (or, at least, full enough) the new series will offer the performers a chance to choose a deliberate number of small fragments in order to compile and re-compile specific collections of these.Cognitive Study of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder is exactly what its title suggests: a brief study of human anxieties and fears, both 'translated' into the language of music, with its restless undulations and moments of catatonic stillness.If we perceive string quartet as a single organism, then Drammatico is an excited and angry soliloquy 'à quatre', like a collective dramatic gesture.What about Quand l'aubespine fleurit, it's rather… a song. A song, where quartet stops being whole, where the solo violin(s) are 'singing' the main melody shaded by the sequences of ascending and descending chords. note by Artur Avanesov
Michel Petrossian - Liber Secretorum Henoch (2019) for String Quartet Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2019-03-28 | Movses Pogossian, violinAndrew McIntosh, violinChe-Yen Chen, violaColeman Itzkoff, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 5 - March 17, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.orgLIBER SECRETORUM HENOCHWhen Movses Pogossian asked me to write a string quartet for a concert framed as a hommage to Gyorgy Kurtag, I was a bit frightened. While I am tremendously impressed by this figure, I cannot fully acknowledge of being much concerned by what preoccupies Kurtag the most. He is a wizard of a humble proximity , constantly creating links between very concrete things and real people and finding his musical self through the connectedness. His "Six moments musicaux" are the most vivid illustration of this. I don't know any other musician as Kurtag who has such a capacity of seing the infinity in a grain of dust. But he is very prudent about any explicit metaphysics, whereas I'm fond of the universes entirely created by imagination, longing for some oniric worlds which lead us far away from the earthy connections, imbedded into the history of Ancient Orient... So a hommage can consist in perpetuating a "model" in one way or another, but it can also be opposing to the "model" in a fertile way... As I was travelling in Ethiopia in those times of a search for the formal inspiration, an intriguing book called the "Book of the Secrets of Henock" came to my view. Scarcely preserved in old slavonic and ethiopian maniscripts only, before the recent discovery of its fragments among the Dead Sea Manuscripts shed some light on its remote origins, this book is one of the most colorful texts of antiquity. Mingling biblical traditions and near-eastern angeology, it is most noted for its meticulous description of seven heavens which the patriarch Henock, led by angels, crosses on his ascension to God. Simultaneousely I've found out that in his fifth "moment musical" Kurtag entrustes a line from "Dies irae" to the cello, an unexpected reference to the Judgement Day. Kurtag's "horizontal relationships network" thus incorporates some vertical glances the whole book of Henock is made of. This connexion rejoiced me, even so tiny as it was, and confirmed my momentum for the Book of the Secrets of Henock. Its savoury descriptions lighted up my mind, its structural organisation helped me to conceive a musical structure of my own, and I was intented to interplay this spatio-temporal framework opposing seven skies of Henock to six moments of Kurtag. But I've failed to my attempt of a systematical optimism. My musical heavens didn't remain stable, the flow of movement took its own imperious path, and after a desperate struggle I've gave up, leaving you with the result which has more to do with some impressions inspired by my readings then the regular exploration of those. note by Michel Petrossian
Tigran Mansurian - Three Medieval Taghs for Viola and Percussion Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2019-02-11 | Kim Kashkashian, violaJonathan Hepfer, percussion1. Tagh to Crucifixion2. Tagh to the Funeral of the Lord3. Tagh to Resurrection (Havik)DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 3 - January 27, 2019Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org
Aram Khachaturian - Sonata-Monologue for Violin Solo (1975) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-12-29 | Eva Aronian, violinDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 2 - December 16, 2018Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org
D. Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 10, Op. 118 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-12-28 | Varty Manouelian and Eva Aronian, violinsCara Pogossian, violaEdvard Pogossian, cello(0:07) 1. Andante(4:35) 2. Allegretto furioso(8:45) 3. Adagio -(15:13) 4. Allegretto - AndanteDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 2 - December 16, 2018Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org
Arthur Aharonian - Miniatures for Piano (1983) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-11-24 | Miniatures for Piano (1983)- dedicated to dear teacher, Edward BaghdassarianArthur Aharonian, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 1 - October 21, 2018Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.org
Arthur Aharonian - The Cry Of My Soul (2018) - World Premiere Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-11-24 | Arthur Aharonian - The Cry Of My Soul (2018), poems by Hamo Sahyan.Արթուր Ահարոնյան - Հոգուս կանչը Shoushik Barsoumian, sopranoPhil O'Connor, clarinetArthur Aharonian, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIVConcert 1 - October 21, 2018Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.orgMOUNTAIN DALEO my distant and remote mountain dale,Would that my song had the scent of your black soil.O my distant and remote mountain dale,Would that my song had the breath of your mountain gale.O my distant and remote mountain dale,Would that my song had the call of your mountain fowl.O my distant and remote mountain dale,Would that my song could fall at the feet of your maker. OPEN YOUR DOOROpen your door,Paternal home,Let me breathe yourAncestral mysterySo that I may know myself,So that I may conquer myselfA second time!Open your eye,Eternity,So that I may see my own imageIn your pupils.And be ashamed of myself no more,My inexistence dread no more. MY FATHERI smell my father’s scentIn the stones of our ruined home,From the old trees of our gardenI gather my wistful yearnings for him.I smell my father’s scentIn the stones of our ruined home,I hear his counselIn the words exploding around me!I gave back what I have collected,My cheeks do burn in shame. THE SKY IS NIGHThe sky is nigh!Its foot is damp with dew!From the eaves of mountain slopesSee the herd of chamois!Sniff the scent of sacred bread From the fatherly smelling garrets!Open up, O eyes, for a moment see,What a morn it is, what a morn! FROM MILK, MY MOTHER’S MILKFrom milk, my mother’s milk,I knew the taste of your song.From the icy waters of the mountainsI knew the taste of your sky.I knew the taste of your word!And then, however far I went,A slave was I, to my yearning for you. OVER MY SHADOW I am fallen, sprawled upon my shadow,In my paternal land, paternal meadow,The lark now sings my own Hayren verse,A divine nectar dripsOn my embittered tongue!For what other fate can I ask,This fate I wish upon all. YOUR SPRING SPRINGS IN THE ARMENIAN TONGUEYour spring in Armenian springs,Your snow in Armenian weeps,In Armenian your waters flow.Your fowls in Armenian sing,Your plows in Armenian till,In Armenian your letters endure.Your sun in Armenian dawns,Your trees in Armenian bloom,In Armenian your words erupt.Your seeds in Armenian sprout,Your hands in Armenian forge,In Armenian your stones keep their silence.Your vales in Armenian breathe,Your victims in Armenian sleep,In Armenian you suffer your pains.However much you have strayed,With Armenians you’ve still bided,In Armenian do your mountains rise.May God preserve what has remained,And then, whatever may come to pass,Your snows in Armenian shall weep,Your spring in Armenian will spring,In Armenian your ages will chance.
Vahram Sargsyan - Three Choral Works Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-02-14 | 0:05 – Luys Zvart – Joyful Light (2006) 2:35 – Khorhurd Metz – Great Mystery, on text by Moses of Khoren (2002)6:20 – Kyrie - World Premiere* (2017)Vahram Sargsyan, voiceVatsche Barsoumian, conductorLark Chamber ChoirDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIIConcert 4 - January 28, 2018Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Vahram Sargsyan - Kyrie Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-02-14 | Kyrie - World Premiere* (2017)Vahram Sargsyan, voiceVatsche Barsoumian, conductorLark Chamber ChoirDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIIConcert 4 - January 28, 2018Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
G. Ligeti - Mysteries of the Macabre (arr. by Elgar Howarth, 1991) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-02-02 | Shoushik Barsoumian, sopranoVatsche Barsoumian, conductorDilijan EnsembleDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIIConcert 4 - January 28, 2018Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Franz Schubert - The Shepherd on the Rock (1828) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-01-07 | Shoushik Barsoumian, sopranoBoris Allakhverdyan, clarinetSteven Vanhauwaert, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIIConcert 3 - December 17 , 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Alexander Arutiunian - Suite for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano (1994) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2018-01-07 | Boris Allakhverdyan, clarinetMovses Pogossian, violinSteven Vanhauwaert, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIIConcert 3 - December 17, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Tigran Mansurian - Sonata da Chiesa for Viola and Piano (2015) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-11-10 | Kim Kashkashian, violaTatevik Mokatsian, pianoUS Premiere PerformanceDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XII!Concert 2 - October 20, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.comIt is a known fact that a “sonata da chiesa” is an instrumental work of the baroque era that was performed in churches between the different parts of the liturgy as an intermediate inset.By turning to this kind of sonata, I have first emphasized the fact that this sonata for viola and piano would be premiered in a church. Besides, I have preferred its general character to be “intermediate” – intermediate between baroque sonatas and those of more recent times, intermediate between the “alert texture” typical to musical material and “inspired speech”, and finally also intermediate between speech and silence.The sonata is dedicated to the memory of Komitas vardapet, the Classic of Armenian music, who has spent the final days of his creative life in the city of Istanbul and has celebrated God many times in the Church where the work was premiered.I am grateful to Kim Kashkashian, my good friend and a devotee of Komitas, for her unparalleled input in the genesis of this work, to her and the pianist Péter Nagy for breathing life into the Sonata.Tigran Mansurian
E. Elgar - Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84 (1918) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-11-10 | Movses Pogossian and Anna Landauer, violinsKim Kashkashian, violaMichael Kaufman, celloTatevik Mokatsian, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIIConcert 2 - October 20, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
J. Brahms - String Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2, mvt 4: Allegro non assai Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-09-18 | Varty Manouelian and Movses Pogossian, violinsPaul Coletti, violaClive Greensmith, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIConcert 6 - April 23, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Komitas - Kanche Krounk Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-08-29 | Shoushik Barsoumian, sopranoSteven Vanhauwaert, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIConcert 2 - December 18 , 2016Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Arno Babajanian (1921-1983) - Violin Sonata (1959) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-05-03 | Movses Pogossian, violinDaniel Sedgwick, pianoDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIConcert 6 - April 23, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.com
Paul Coletti - Starlight Journey (2017) - World Premiere performance Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-05-01 | Varty Manouelian, violinPaul Coletti, violaDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIConcert 6 - April 23, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.comNote from the composer:The original inspiration for this piece arrived in 1978 in Gstaad while I was a student at the International Menuhin Music Academy. Many inspirations and moons later I had the makings of a piece but not the skills to write it. Though I did try. Over and over. Then in 2006 I got married to Gina, and my humble wedding gift to her was ‘Journey' for two violas. It was a 3 minutes piece, all of it pretty and harmonious, a honeymoon piece. Of course I rewrote 'journey' countless times after that, trying to get it right, and then in 2016 at the behest of Juan-Miguel Hernandez, I wrote 'Moonlight Journey' for two violas. It lasts more than seven minutes. Fast forward to now, and 'Starlight Journey’ for violin and viola was born, my children Julia and Olivia picked the title. It contains much of the material found in all the other ‘Journeys’ but is now longer still. My personal journey took me 40 years to write this piece. And I am happy with it, for now! Not to compare, but Mozart wrote his two beautiful duos in one ordinary night. - Paul Coletti
John Ter-Tadevosyan (1926-1988) - String Quartet No. 2 (1966) - US Premiere performance Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-04-04 | 1. Largo2. Allegro non troppo3. Andante recitando4. Allegro risoluto, molto con fuocoVEM String Quartet (UCLA Graduate String Quartet)Xenia Deviatkina-Loh, violinAnna Corcoran, violinMorgan O'Shaughnessey, violaAnne Suda, celloDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIConcert 5 - March 19, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.comJivan Ter-Tadevosian (1926-1988). Armenian composer and violinist. Graduated from Portukalov’s violin class at the Yerevan Conservatory in 1952, and from Edvard Mirzoyan’s composition class in 1960. After working as a violinist for 10 years he became the head of the Saradzhev Music School from 1952 through 1959. He has lived in Moscow and Yerevan. In Armenia, he was awarded the “Honored Artist of Armenia” title in 1986. His music combines national musical elements with new techniques, and the individuality of his style is evident in his earliest works. His music emphasises the horizontal aspect of composition, sometimes developing polytonality, and sometimes monothematic variation. Expressive elements are achieved by enhanced developments in contrasting thematic sections. The integrity of his Second Quartet is achieved by means of 12-note serialism. Later in his career, he became inclined towards neo-romanticism and many instrumental works feature the development of particular melodic or rhythmic motifs stimulating the dynamics of timbres.
Michel Petrossian (b. 1973) - A Fiery Flame, a Flaming Fire (2016), World Premiere performance Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2017-03-09 | Varty Manouelian, violin, Charles Tyler, cello, Daniel Sedgwick, piano* Generously commissioned for Dilijan Series by J. and H. SchlichtingDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIIConcert 4 - February 19, 2017Zipper Hall, Los Angeleswww.dilijanlarkmusicalsociety.comComposer's note:A fiery flame, a flaming fireFor violin, cello and piano“A fiery flame, a flaming fire” revolves around two issues: the identity and the threshold.The question of identity seems a crucial one in our globalized and interconnected world. Imagine a person born in the USA from a Russian secular Jewish father and a Zoroastrian Persian mother, raised in Paris, converted to Protestantism and working in China…. What is his/her identity? Which aspects prevail that make him/her belong to one or another community, which characters connote him/her as such?Different thresholds allow to interpret such internal characters, and thus the identity of the person is changing, sometimes radically, according to the time and space where he/she is living. This issue can be explored further by considering the identity from the point of view of the person himself/herself, and his identity as perceived from the outside.These questions are addressed by French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf in his essay “In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong” who investigates the tensions between some paradoxical aspects of a complex identity.I was intrigued to consider these matters in the musical realm, being myself Armenian by birth, Russian by education, French by culture, Hierosolymitan by spirit …As the musical piece evolves, I like the idea of observing how its identity is built around some identifiable elements, and how these elements, although they remain always recognizable, evolve and modify profoundly the initial identity of the piece.Every movement of this rather contrasted work presents some challenges of its own, the main one, besides the very demanding technical aspects, being to maintain those sometimes very different parts together, to make sense of the changes of mood and character, keeping the surprise as an element of advancement of the action. Yet all of the aspects are powerfully united by the omnipresence of one melody - an old traditional Armenian song "Kars" brought to light by the jazzman Tigran Hamasyan. I was haunted by this melody when I was asked to write a very small piece for a concert held in La Fenice, Venice (Italy). The musical seeds of this work didn’t feel themselves comfortable in such confined space – they rather wanted to blossom towards some larger form. Other melodic motives and ideas and particular musical textures came to interact with this melody in my head, and to fertilize it in a really unanticipated way. The metamorphosis of the initial melody was what lead me to reason upon the identity and threshold issues. I’ve suggested to musicians who play it – and I invite the audience too - to think of this piece in terms of a miniature opera or a one-act drama, where the musicians themselves are involved as dramatis personae. This doesn't mean that we are assisting to a representation of musical theater; rather, the feeling is procured purely by musical means. But in my own imagination all those musical leitmotifs, different variations of the same musical ideas, harmonic or timbral atmospheres, smooth rendezvous of instruments or brusque departures from each other, folkloric reminiscences where the flowing of notes seems easily guessed, whereas it appears in an unexpected place and at an unpredictable moment, thus shedding new light on the meaning of the musical material and coloring differently the whole musical texture - all of this can be perceived as different facets of a play.The musicians have to free their imagination, use their own mental images and perceptions and really play with all their senses, as if in search of a lost melody or browsing through the pages of Marcel Proust’s In Search Of Lost Time. The title itself refers to the passage of the burning bush in Exodus 3.2. Two main Greek manuscripts differ in detail for the same Hebraic expression: the Angel of God appears in a fiery flame (Codex Alexandrinus) or in a flaming fire (Codex Vaticanus). The translation reveals two aspects of the one reality, it shows the moving identity even of such thing as a fixed sacred text, and this reference to Moses in the context of a paradoxical apparition of God is my homage to Movses Pogossian who took the initiative of this commission and very kindly let my musical ideas grow to some extent…
J. S. Bach - Erbarme Dich, from St. Matthews Passion Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2016-04-15 | Shoushik Barsoumian, soprano, Guillaume Sutre, violin, UCLA Camarades EnsembleDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIConcert 5 - March 20, 2016Zipper Hall, Los AngelesDilijan Series’ 11th season features a universally admired lineup of artists of international reputation, such as violinists Guillaume Sutre and Gabriela Diaz, violist Carrie Dennis, cellists Clive Greensmith and Antonio Lysy, clarinetist Michele Zukovsky, pianists Sergei Babayan, Artur Avanesov, and Armen Guzelimian, and saxophonist Armen Hyusnuntz, among others. The Series will premiere four new chamber works by Sargsyan, Zohrabian, Avanesov, and Hyusnuntz, bringing the total number of the Dilijan commissions to 38.
Tigran Mansurian - Romance for Violin and Strings (2011) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2016-04-15 | Movses Pogossian, violin, UCLA Camarades EnsembleDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIConcert 5 - March 20, 2016Zipper Hall, Los AngelesDilijan Series’ 11th season features a universally admired lineup of artists of international reputation, such as violinists Guillaume Sutre and Gabriela Diaz, violist Carrie Dennis, cellists Clive Greensmith and Antonio Lysy, clarinetist Michele Zukovsky, pianists Sergei Babayan, Artur Avanesov, and Armen Guzelimian, and saxophonist Armen Hyusnuntz, among others. The Series will premiere four new chamber works by Sargsyan, Zohrabian, Avanesov, and Hyusnuntz, bringing the total number of the Dilijan commissions to 38.
Mark Carlson - Twilight for Cello and Strings Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2016-04-15 | Antonio Lysy, cello, UCLA Camarades EnsembleDILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIConcert 5 - March 20, 2016Zipper Hall, Los AngelesDilijan Series’ 11th season features a universally admired lineup of artists of international reputation, such as violinists Guillaume Sutre and Gabriela Diaz, violist Carrie Dennis, cellists Clive Greensmith and Antonio Lysy, clarinetist Michele Zukovsky, pianists Sergei Babayan, Artur Avanesov, and Armen Guzelimian, and saxophonist Armen Hyusnuntz, among others. The Series will premiere four new chamber works by Sargsyan, Zohrabian, Avanesov, and Hyusnuntz, bringing the total number of the Dilijan commissions to 38.
P. Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48 Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2016-04-15 | DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIConcert 5 - March 20, 2016Zipper Hall, Los AngelesUCLA Camarades Ensemble (faculty, students, and alumni)www.uclastrings.com Dilijan Series’ 11th season features a universally admired lineup of artists of international reputation, such as violinists Guillaume Sutre and Gabriela Diaz, violist Carrie Dennis, cellists Clive Greensmith and Antonio Lysy, clarinetist Michele Zukovsky, pianists Sergei Babayan, Artur Avanesov, and Armen Guzelimian, and saxophonist Armen Hyusnuntz, among others. The Series will premiere four new chamber works by Sargsyan, Zohrabian, Avanesov, and Hyusnuntz, bringing the total number of the Dilijan commissions to 38.
Ashot Zohrabyan - Novelette for Piano Quartet (2009) Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2016-03-27 | Varty Manouelian, violin, Richard O'Neill, viola, Antonio Lysy, cello, Artur Avanesov, pianoKomitas Chamber Hall, Yerevan, Armenia, June 12, 2012Novelette for Piano Quartet (2009) is a Commission from the Dilijan Chamber Music Society (Los Angeles), and received its World Premiere on March 19, 2010 at Zipper Hall, Los Angeles. Performers: Elise Kuder, violin, Michael Kelly, viola, Rupert Thompson, cello, Gavin Martin, pianowww.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.com
Ashot Zohrabian - String Quartet No. 3 Stanzas in August (2016) - World Premiere Dilijan Chamber Music Series 2016-02-25 | DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC SERIESSEASON XIConcert 4 - February 21, 2016Zipper Hall, Los AngelesGabriela Diaz and Movses Pogossian, violins, Kate Vincent, viola, Charles Tyler, celloDilijan Series’ 11th season features a universally admired lineup of artists of international reputation, such as violinists Guillaume Sutre and Gabriela Diaz, violist Carrie Dennis, cellists Clive Greensmith and Antonio Lysy, clarinetist Michele Zukovsky, pianists Sergei Babayan, Artur Avanesov, and Armen Guzelimian, and saxophonist Armen Hyusnuntz, among others. The Series will premiere four new chamber works by Sargsyan, Zohrabian, Avanesov, and Hyusnuntz, bringing the total number of the Dilijan commissions to 38. www.dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.com(Composer's note)Italian word «stanza» has a double meaning. It may refer both to a poetic strophe, as well as to a room – «a place to stay». My intention was to combine both these meanings. In terms of a strophe, it has an allusion to the poetry, notably to Joseph Brodsky («Seven Strophes»). On the other hand, this work purposely lacks consistent development, and short passages of music are separated with suspended rests – «stays» or «stops».There's yet another reference in the title, this time to Faulkner. His «Light in August» got its definitive title after a remark by his wife Estelle about the special quality of the light in August. My idea was to create poetic music broken down in «strophes», and to shed such a tender August light over each of them. Ashot Zohrabian
