“Mosaics of Armenia” offers a magnificent performance
Anyone — especially lovers of classical music — who was unable to attend the final concert of the inaugural season of Massachusetts Chamber Music Artists on Sunday, May 17, at Follen Church in Lexington, Massachusetts, missed something exceptional.
The concluding concert was devoted entirely to Armenian music. Titled “Mosaics of Armenia,” the program brought together internationally acclaimed musicians: cellist Suren Bagratuni and pianist Karen Hakobyan, alongside the organization’s founder and artistic director, violinist Hayk Hovsepian.
Hovsepian opened the evening by introducing the program and offering detailed background on the featured works. He then invited pianist Karen Hakobyan to the stage, where Hakobyan delivered deeply expressive performances of AramKhachaturian’s “Toccata” and Komitas’ “Garun A.”
The final work of the first half was contemporary composer Gagik Hovunts’ “Duo Sonata for Violin and Cello,” Op. 13. The composition’s distinctive rhythms and tonal colors explore the continuing evolution of Armenian musical expression.
Bagratuni, who had traveled from Detroit, and Hovsepian performed the piece with remarkable precision and sensitivity. Compared with the works of Khachaturian and Komitas, the composition has rarely been heard in concert halls.
In the second half, Hakobyan and Hovsepian performed a lesser-known work by Khachaturian, “Poem-Song,” composed in 1929. The duo then presented Grigor Hakhinian’s (1926–1991) “Poem on the Melodies of Sayat-Nova,” performed for the first time in the United States.
The audience had already been deeply moved by the same program during its presentation in New York the previous day, and the atmosphere in Massachusetts was no different. Through the melodies of Sayat-Nova, listeners bridged the past and present of Armenian musical heritage.
To conclude the evening, the trio returned to the stage and performed one of Arno Babajanian’s most beloved compositions, the “Piano Trio in F-sharp Minor.” The audience received the performance with great enthusiasm, responding with applause that brought the trio back to the stage twice for encores.
Photos courtesy of Jirair Hovsepian.
