NEW YORK — Pegasus: The Orchestra concludes its season on Friday, May 15, at 7:30 p.m. at Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center (129 West 67th Street, New York, NY) with New Voices – A Journey of Armenian Music, an ambitious and deeply compelling program featuring three New York Premieres and a roster of internationally acclaimed artists.
Led by founder, Principal Conductor and Artistic Director Karén Hakobyan, this season finale offers a rare opportunity to experience Armenian masterworks seldom heard on major New York stages — spanning intimate songs, virtuosic concerti, and electrifying orchestral showpieces — brought to life by world-renowned soloists.
The evening opens with the New York Premiere of Hakobyan’s Vocalise for Voice and Orchestra, followed by a deeply expressive vocal sequence tracing a poetic arc across generations of Armenian music — from Komitas Vardapet’s songs to Arno Babadjanian’s Vocalise — performed by Metropolitan Opera soprano Tatev Baroyan.
“I feel deeply honored to give the New York premiere of Karén Hakobyan’s Vocalise for Voice and Orchestra,” Baroyan said. “To bring this piece together with Komitas’s timeless songs and Babadjanian’s Vocalise, forming a continuous vocal journey across Armenian music, is especially meaningful to me. Presenting these voices on a New York stage is both a privilege and a responsibility I embrace wholeheartedly.”
The first half culminates in the New York Premiere of Arno Babadjanian’s Cello Concerto, a gripping and rarely performed work, featuring internationally renowned cellist and Tchaikovsky Competition Silver Medalist Suren Bagratuni.
“Babadjanian’s Cello Concerto is a work I have long hoped to perform,” Bagratuni said. “I am delighted that its New York premiere will take place with Pegasus. It is a powerful and deeply expressive work, and I am thrilled to help bring it to life for new audiences.”
