YerazArt Announces Dates for North American Concert Tour

Six-City Tour to Feature Young Virtuosos from Armenia

The YerazArt Foundation recently released the dates of its fifth annual North American concert tour taking place from Sept. 30-Oct. 19. Once again, a select group of fine young musicians from Armenia will be displaying their talents in a series of concerts in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, and Boston, their home base.

Under the YerazArt Young Musicians from Armenia program, the YerazArt Foundation selects and sponsors a handful of talented young artists from Armenia every year to embark on a musical journey across the U.S. and Canada. This year’s rising stars are saxophonist Eduard Nersisyan (19), cellist Mikayel Grigoryan (13), violinist Davit Hakobyan (14), pianist Shoghakat Vardanyan (17), and kamantcha player Rasa-Lila Buniatyan (17). They will be performing under the artistic direction of Arman Padaryan, the director of YerazArt in Armenia. The first half of the program will feature music by Western composers (Paganini, Piazzolla, Wieniawski, and more), while the second half will be dedicated to Armenian composers (Gevorgyan, Spendiarov, Mirzoyan, to name a few).

“With this concert tour, the YerazArt Foundation hopes to offer a diverse audience of music enthusiasts a venue to explore the wealth and uniqueness of our Armenian musical heritage and artistry; and for our young Armenian talents, the tour is a rare opportunity to reveal their skills abroad and give them exposure to professionals in their field,” said Apo Ashjian, concert tour manager of YerazArt. ” I am looking forward to this upcoming tour, as this year’s musicians are remarkably young but exceptionally gifted. Also, I’m particularly thrilled at the prospect of introducing YerazArt to new cities. This will be our first visit to Chicago, Detroit, and Ottawa. Overall, I’m confident the 2010 tour will mark a major success on our growth path.”

This year’s Boston concert is sponsored by Aurelian and Anahid Mardiros for the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church of Greater Boston. The concert will be held at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge on Sun., Oct. 17, at 4 p.m. Admission is $20. For tickets and information, call (617) 354-0632.

The YerazArt Foundation is a Boston-based non-profit organization co-founded by entrepreneurs Noubar Afeyan and Raffi Festekjian in 2004, with a mission to nurture, support and promote young musical talents from Armenia through assistance with professional development, participation in international competitions, and the organization of annual concert tours. To learn more about YerazArt, visit www.yerazart.org.