Marina Margarian’s Musical Journey Captivates at Rockport

Baritone Asatur Baljyan graduated the Komitas State Conservatory with a bachelor’s degree and studied at the Buchman-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv (2010-11) and the Lotte Lehmann Academy in Perleberg, Germany (2012-13). He took masterclasses with Alessandra Althoff-Pugliese and Peter Konwistchny and performed as a soloist with the National Opera Theater of Armenia. He has performed in Berlin, Moscow, Munich and Istanbul, and has performed leading roles such as Graf Tatul in the opera “Almast” and the title role in “Aleko.”

He is music director and conductor at St. James Armenian Church in Watertown, MA, and creative projects manager at the Armenian State Philharmonic Society. He won the Armenian Presidential Prize for Opera Singing in 2008 and the title of Best Artist of the Year in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Pianist Gegam Margarian, born in Yerevan, is an example of how talent tends to cluster in families. The brother of Marina, he graduated from the Armenian Concert Music College, influenced by composers Martin Vardazaryan and Arthur Grigoryan. He has performed at the Armenian Philharmonic Theater and appeared at composer Emma Mihranyan’s “New Names” television show. He moved to the US in 1991 and has taught music classes at the AGBU Armenian School in Watertown, the Armenian Sisters’ Academy in Lexington, and Belmont Kindergarten School. He is concertmaster at the Meghedi Vocal group and performs at various concerts throughout the US.

He composes in many genres, including jazz, classical and pop. He arranged the music compositions for the children’s CD “Tsapik Tsapik” and is the composer and director of the children’s musical “The Bird,’ based on a story by Hovhannes Tumanyan. He recently released a series of music videos.

Cellist Sophie Paul is working towards her Master’s of Music in Cello Performance at the Boston Conservatory, where she serves as the cellist of the Honors String Quartet, and studies under Rhonda Rider. She has held fellowships at the Bach Institute at Emmanuel Music, the Music from Salem Chamber Music Festival, and the Harvard Chamber Music Festival. Originally from Salem, Oregon, she graduated in May 2022 with her Bachelor’s of Music in Cello Performance and a minor in English from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.

The musicians performed in various combinations throughout the concert. At one point, a very young girl, Karina Karian, who is a student of Margarian, came onto the stage to perform the song Mayrik [Mommy] in a charming duet with Harutyunyan, afterwards bringing a flower to her own mother sitting in the audience nearby.

Closing

Rev. Ghazar Bedrossian gave some closing remarks, thanking the participants, audience and supporters. He quoted various important cultural figures, Armenian and musical, about the importance of music, which connects mind and soul, spirit and body, and also shows the importance of love and compassion. Rev. Bedrossian exclaimed that the musicians through the world of music transported the audience to a different place, and paraphrasing William Saroyan, exclaimed, “We have a new Armenia in this hall, full of music, prayer, culture, emotion and spirit.”

The first encore was of Margarian’s own My Yerevan, bringing together all the performers. Rev. Bedrossian surprised the performers and the audience with a rendition of Pari Arakil [Kind Stork] by Aleksey Hekimyan. He said that it symbolizes the Armenian nation, which loves to build, starting from zero, and creating a homeland wherever its members go.

After the event was over, Der Torossian said to the Mirror-Spectator, “I am very proud of all the performers and of Marina’s accomplishments. I really hope we can keep it going, both for the sake of this community and Armenia. Culturally it is a unique type of program for the community, and if we can provide assistance in Armenia too, it is all the more worth it.”

She noted that this year was the most successful yet in terms of philanthropy, thanks to generous donors and the general audience.