YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. U.S. composer Laura Kaminsky, Armenian composer-pianist Artur Avanesov, and Armenian pianist Margarit Sargsyan are presenting three concerts in Armenia in cooperation with Komitas State Conservatory of Music. This celebration of contemporary American and Armenian music was supported by a grant from CEC ArtsLink. The first concert will be held at Naragatsi Art Institute on November 6, and the second two will be held at Komitas Chamber Music Hall on November 7 and 8. Laura Kaminsky has a longstanding connection to Armenia dating back to 1996 when she worked with two talented young Armenian musicians in Poland and throughout central Europe. In 2002, Ms. Kaminsky visited Yerevan for the first time to perform a concert at the invitation of the Society of Composers and Musicologists. Ms. Kaminsky's relationship with Armenian composers endured, and led to her organizing this November's concert series with her Armenian colleagues. Laura Kaminsky is Dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College/SUNY. Previously, she served as Chair of the Department of Music at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington. She is also co-founder and Artistic Director of Musicians Accord, a new music collective based in New York and dedicated to 20th and 21st century chamber music. Composer Laura Kaminsky's works have been performed throughout the United States and abroad, including in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and West Africa.

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