Building a Legacy
The lasting imprint of the Balyan architectural dynasty
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May 14, 2010
AGBU Quartet Thrills 1,500 in Aleppo, Damascus and Beirut
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Hayk Arsenyan on the piano, Nazig Tchakarian on violin, Hrant Parsamian on cello, and Aleksandr Nazaryan on viola at the AGBU Demirdjian Center in Antelias, Lebanon. -
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Hrant Parsamian, Hayk Arsenyan, Aleksandr Nazaryan, and Nazig Tchakarian are joined by members of the Cultural Committee of AGBU Lebanon in Antelias. -
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More than 400 people attended the AGBU concert at the Demirdjian Center in Antelias, Lebanon.
A quartet of AGBU Performing Artists completed their debut Middle East tour with much fanfare this winter, sharing their musical talents with over 1,500 concertgoers in Aleppo, Damascus, and Beirut. At all three concerts, the packed house included government officials from the respective host countries. Sponsored by the AGBU New York Special Events Committee, the tour follows two successful AGBU concerts produced in the past two years with the support of NYSEC at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, where the four artists played among their peers, all of whom were AGBU performing arts scholarship winners.
While pianist Hayk Arsenyan, violist Aleksandr Nazaryan, and cellist Hrant Parsamian have completed their studies, violinist Nazig Tchakarian is still on scholarship pursuing her doctorate in musical arts at Stony Brook University in New York state.
This quartet gave the first of its sold-out concerts in the Nazarian Theater of the AGBU Center in Aleppo on January 24, 2010, and the second at Dar El Assad Theater for Culture and the Arts in Damascus on January 28, under the auspices of the Syrian Ministry of Culture, organized by AGBU Damascus in cooperation with "Sada" [ECHO] Musical Culture Association. The program in Damascus featured piano quartets by Mozart and Brahms, as well as a trio playing "Four Seasons" by the Argentine composer Astor Byasula in a style combining elements of traditional tango, classical music and jazz.
The final concert took place on January 31 through the initiative of the AGBU Lebanon Cultural Committee at the AGBU Demirdjian Center in the Beirut suburb of Antelias, with over 400 in attendance, including members of the Lebanese Parliament, ministers, ambassadors, well-known Lebanese musicians and academics, representatives of sister organizations, and AGBU leaders and members. After the quartet played pieces by Mozart, Piazzolla and Brahms, they responded to waves of applause and requests for an encore by playing Khachaturian's "Sword Dance."
For decades, AGBU scholarships have been awarded to talented students of Armenian descent studying in the performing arts. With generous monetary contributions from donors, AGBU can carry out its mission of laying the foundation for the future of these artists.
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