Tickets on Sale Now for AGBU NYSEC's 5th Annual Performing Artists in Concert Event Honoring Sayat Nova

Proceeds to Benefit the AGBU Scholarship Program to Support Young Artists Worldwide

For centuries, Sayat Nova's work has captured the imaginations of artists and audiences around the globe. Today, 300 years after the legendary Armenian troubadour's birth, his poetry and music continues to inspire us all – and AGBU's own young performers are no exception.

On Saturday, December 1, 2012, at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the AGBU New York Special Events Committee (NYSEC) will proudly honor both Sayat Nova's enduring legacy and the talents of AGBU's performing arts scholarship recipients during its 5th Annual Performing Artists in Concert event.

This year's concert will showcase 12 scholarship recipients, who have trained at some of the world's finest institutions, including the Conservatory of Geneva, the Julliard School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, the Vienna Conservatory and Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, among others. Funds raised from the upcoming event will help ensure that hundreds more students have the opportunity to develop their talents while connecting with their musical heritage.

Under the artistic direction of pianists Hayk Arsenyan and Sofya Melikyan, the Performing Artists ensemble will present a repertoire of Sayat Nova's most celebrated pieces. Though he is believed to have produced thousands of poems and compositions, only a limited number have been recovered, and their universal appeal has allowed them to stand the test of time. Arsenyan, who is also the Artistic Director of the newly formed AGBU Performing Arts Department, describes, "Although he lived in a mainly religious society, Sayat Nova was one of the oldest Armenian composers of secular music. His influence on Armenian classical music is immense and can be heard through Khachaturian, Hovhaness, Mirzoyan, Arutiunian, Mansurian, and many others. We will perform some of their works at the concert, along with new works written and arranged by young composers Artur Akshelyan of Switzerland and Vahram Sargsyan of Canada, inspired by the music of Sayat Nova. We are anticipating this beautiful collaboration with great excitement." In addition to Sargsyan and Akshelyan, who was awarded first place in the 2006 AGBU Sayat Nova International Composition Competition, the concert will showcase an international array of performers – a string quartet, pianists and a soprano from the United States, a clarinetist from Austria, as well as a marimbist from Belgium. Together, on the tercentenary of Sayat Nova's birth, they will demonstrate how the oldest Armenian traditions continue to hold strong today.

Over the past four years, the annual AGBU NYSEC concert has raised more than $200,000, which has benefitted the AGBU Performing Arts Fellowship program, supporting hundreds of gifted young Armenian performers internationally, as well as other musical projects and initiatives.

Tickets for AGBU NYSEC's 5th Annual Performing Artists in Concert are on sale now. Orchestra and front balcony tickets are available for $65. For the special price of $35, limited seating is available in the rear balcony. Reserve your seat today by calling AGBU at (212) 319-6383 or the Carnegie Hall Box Office at (212) 247-7800, or by visiting www.carnegiehall.org.

Guests are also invited to make a tax-deductible donation that will enable AGBU to sustain and expand its scholarship program. This is a wonderful opportunity to provide financial assistance to scores of Armenian youth worldwide, and have a dramatic impact on their artistic aspirations. Donors of $1,000 or more will receive two complimentary tickets, as well as an invitation to an exclusive "Meet the Artists" cocktail reception immediately following the concert.  Contact AGBU for more information.