St. Yegishe Armenian Church in London vibrated with a memorable classical concert on October 18, 2014. The Tekeyan Trust of London (TTL), a registered charity since 1979, organised an autumnal concert of Armenian music with participation of the Komitas Choir, the first Armenian choir in the UK, to celebrate the 145th birth anniversary of the great composer Komitas.
The TTL, the backbone of the London TCA and the Tekeyan Centre Fund (Armenia), has always been dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the national identity and to furthering links between Armenia and the Diaspora through various cultural, educational, community life activities.
The idea of creating the Komitas Choir, the brainchild of the TTL Honourary Secretary Vartan Ouzounian and tenor Sipan Hakobyan, was enthusiastically supported by the Trust. Thus, in November 2013, the Komitas Choir was formed under the Chair Mr Ouzounian and the baton of the young promising conductor Sipan Hagopyan. Currently the choir consists of more than 30 singers. For an entire year, the Artistic Director of the Komitas Choir Sipan Hagopyan and wonderful Concert Master Ella Babayan, have been working relentlessly and passionately to prepare the singers for their major public recital on October 18.
Present at the great event were representatives of all organisations of the British-Armenian Community, Baroness Caroline Cox of the House of Lords, other civic and religious dignitaries, musicians, critics and music-lovers.
The concert started with Mr V. Ouzounian’s welcoming speech and a brief review of the 39-year activity of the Tekeyan Trust, an organisation that has always served to the Armenian community by supporting its cultural life. The Chairman also detailed the idea and the goal of the first Armenian choir in the UK named after the founder of the Armenian classical music the Great Komitas.
At the concert apart from the Komitas Choir performance, the audience contemplated recitals by talented young Armenian artists in the UK: violinist Ani Batikyan, international award-winning soprano Tereza Gevorgyan, twenty-year-old pianist and composer Kristina Arakelyan, soprano Arpineh Kassabian, who introduced several masterpieces of Komitas Vardabet. Armenian composer Komitas not only re-invented the tradition of Armenian folk music by getting rid of foreign influences, but without Komitas Vardabet, many of those 4000 ancient folk songs would have vanished forever.
The first to perform was multi-talented Kristina Arakelyan, a third-year scholar of Royal Academy of Music in London, already a well-known name to classical music lovers. Kristina performed two Dances for Piano by Komitas with youthful vigour and vigorous confidence. In the first half of the concert, Kristina also accompanied soloists with huge professionalism.
In the first part of the programme tenor Sipan Hagopyan, also the Komitas Choir Conductor, sang two well-known songs by Komitas with his warm, velvety tenor, accompanied by Kristina Arakelyan on the piano. As a child Sipan attended Tchaikovsky Music School in Yerevan for gifted young musicians and later graduated from Yerevan State Conservatory with Master Degree. Sipan continues his vocal training in London where he takes master classes with Professor Philip Dogan at RAM. Sipan has performed on Armenian and British stages throughout the past four years, and from concert to concert, Sipan’s natural talent is growing stronger and more compelling.
Violinist Ani Batikian is an accomplished soloist, and graduate from RAM with the top prize for violin. For this evening, she had selected two masterpieces of Komitas, which she interpreted both with verve, precision and admirable intonation. The opening low notes from famous “Krounk” sounded mesmerizing, followed by an effortless shift to higher octaves, performed flawlessly, while she set high standard for the rest of this very challenging violin piece. The young violinist showed a restrained lyricism throughout the second piece Kele Tsoler.
Another revelation of the evening was the young soprano Teresa Gevorgyan, who performed two celebrated songs by Komitas, “Apricot Tree” and “Swallow”. Teresa’s delightful voice was unpredictably powerful for her very slender and elegant physique, yet it filled the entire auditorium with the breathtaking sounds of those lyrical jewels. One of the most memorable recitals of the evening was her version of “Swallow” by Komitas, which was emotional, sensual and rich in musical texture and nuance.
One of my favourite recitals of the evening was the duet called “Habrban” interpreted by Sipan Hagopyan and Teresa Gevorgyan, accompanied by Ani Batikyan on violin and Kristina Arakelyan on piano. Cheeky, joyful and youthful, this piece was quite suitable for the young artists and there was a lot of creative chemistry among those four musicians who had joined together in this uplifting and positive piece, which made one’s heart thump with pride.
In the second part of the concert the Komitas Choir performed nine songs; three of them were illustrious Komitas songs, “Rain Fallen”, “My Pretty Lover” and “This Night, Moonlight Night”. Other popular songs and classics were included, such as “Blossomed Cherry Tree” by Alexander Achemyan, interpreted by soprano Arpineh Kassabian with artistry and liveliness , “Arpa-Sevan”, “Kilikia” and “Yerevan’s Blow Night”, but “My Sweet Armenia” music by Ashot Satyan, based on the poem of Yegishe Charentz was interpreted with particular emotion.
This first public concert has been an encouraging start for the Komitas Choir and the Artistic Director Sipan Hagopyan. It was gratifying to spot three young faces amongst this dedicated group of volunteers, yet it would be wonderful to see more young members of the Armenian Community joining the Komitas Choir, in order to continue the excellent choral traditions set by Komitas himself and to spread the ancient Armenian musical and cultural heritage in the UK.
At the end of the evening an emotional speech was given by Very Rev’d Father Aren Shahinian, who welcomed the audience to St. Yegishe Church, and used a metaphor from the song “Krounk” to symbolise Armenian nation’s survival and praised the brilliant initiative to form the first Choir in the UK. Mr Ara Margarian from the Armenian Embassy in London congratulated the Komitas Choir and wished future success.
In his closing speech, Mr Vartan Ouzounian, the Chairman of the Komitas Choir, Honourary Secretary of the London Tekeyan Trust, thanked all the members of the Choir for their dedication and contribution to Armenian culture and music and presented them with certificates of appreciation. He also expressed his gratitude to benefactors for supporting the Komitas Choir, and thanked dignitaries and the audience for their attendance to this significant Autumn Recital at St. Yegishe Armenian Church in Kensington, London.
Review by:
Hasmik Harutunyan Seymour (London) & Seda Khachaturyan (Yerevan)
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