NEW YORK — The seventh annual Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) New York Special Events Committee’s (NYSEC) Performing Artists in Concert will take place on Saturday, December 6 at 8 p.m. at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York.
The concert will be dedicated to celebrating the life and work of Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian, in honor of his 75th birthday. Performing will be young musicians from Armenia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The musicians in this year’s international ensemble include: Samvel Arakelyan (violin), Narek Arutyunian (clarinet), Grigor Khachatryan (piano), Lilit Kurdiyan (cello), Nune Melikian (violin), Edvard Pogossian (cello), Veronika Vardpatrikyan (viola), Lauren Williams (oboe) and Sarkis Zakarian (piano). Zakarian, who recently launched the AGBU London Chamber Orchestra, will also serve as the artistic director for the evening.
Each musician participating in the concert has received an AGBU Performing Arts Fellowship, which has supported his or her training at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions. This year’s ensemble includes graduates of the Yerevan State Komitas Conservatory, the Royal Academy of Music, the Juilliard School and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The evening’s program will feature a diverse array of Western classical and Armenian composers. Along with lesser-known pieces by Grammy Award nominee Mansurian, guests will also be treated to two rarely-performed transcriptions by Alexander Spendiaryan and works by Aram Khachaturian, Mozart and Schumann, among others.
Tickets for the benefit concert are on sale now. To purchase tickets, call AGBU or visit www.carnegiehall.org.
