On the occasion of the centennial of the 1st Republic of Armenia and in support of AGBU Children’s Centers in Yerevan, the Performing Arts Department of AGBU France/Europe presents A MUSICAL WEEK END, in partnership with the Boghossian Foundation, the City of Brussels and the Armenian community of Belgium.

The official opening of this musical week-end will take place on Friday, June 1, at the Brussels Town Hall with the AGBU String Ensemble.

Saturday evening, the music of Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Babadjanian will echo in the Ceremonial Hall of the Villa Empain, with a performance by Varduhi Yeritsyan, a French-Armenian pianist with a vast and diversified repertoire and by the brothers Hrachya and Sevak Avanesyan.

Sunday will be dedicated to the jazz trio of Yessaï Karapetyan, a French-Armenian pianist currently performing on the most prestigious jazz stages.

To learn more about AGBU Children Centers in Yerevan, please click HERE.

Programme:

• Friday, June 1 at 7:30pm – Brussel’s Town Hall (attendance by invitation only)

AGBU String Ensemble (ASE)
Program : Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani, composed by Edward Mirzoyan and conducted by Alexandr Iradyan

• Saturday, June 2 at 8:00pm – Boghossian Foundation. Price : 20 euros

Piano Trio (piano, violin and cello). With Varduhi Yeritsyan (piano), Hrachya Avanesyan (violin) and Sevak Avanesyan (cello).

Program : Chostakovitch, Rachmaninov, Babadjanian

• Sunday, June 3 at 4:00pm – Boghossian Foundation. Price : 15 euros

Yessaï Karapetyan Trio – Jazz. With Yessaï Karapetyan (piano), Sylvain Fournet-Fayas (double bass) and David Paycha (drums).

For reservation, please contact: info@boghossianfoundation.be

More about the musicians:

Varduhi Yeritzyan was born on Labour Day in Armenia and has lived in France since she was 20. She occupies a singular place on the contemporary piano scene. Thanks to her double culture inherited from such great masters as Brigitte Engerer, Vladimir Krainev, Msitslav Rostropovitch, Denis Pascal and Claire Désert, she is both a specialist of the Russian repertoire and a regular performer of French music. After having won numerous international awards, she was invited to the most renowned stages and festivals (Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, Concertgebouw d’Amsterdam, Auditorium du Louvre, Salle Pleyel…). During the 2015-2016 season, she published recordings of Alexander Scriabine’s sonatas as well as a record dedicated to Armenian music recorded at the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne for the label Paraty | Distribution Harmonia Mundi. She is also assistant professor of the piano class of Denis Pascal at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse.

Hrachya Avanesyan, violin, is considered one of the most inspired artists of his generation. In April 2006, while still a teenager, he won the first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin competition. In 2008, his talent was recognized once again in the world of music when he won the prestigious Carl Nielsen prize in Denmark. Born in Armenia in 1986, at 16 Hratchya Avanesyan moved with his family to Belgium, where he now lives. He studied with Igor Oistrakh at the Brussels Royal Conservatory as well as with Augustin Dumay at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth. He is a member of the Avanesyan Trio, founded in 2010, which brings together the brothers Hrachya and Sevak Avanesyan and Julien Libeer. Each of these three musicians has performed on renowned stages, such as Wigmore Hall in London, Casa Musica in Lisbon or the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris.

Born in 1989 in Armenia, Sevak Avanesyan first studied with M. Abrahamyan (a student of Rostropovitch) in Yerevan, then with V. Spanoghe at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. He then joined the class of Claudio Bohorquez at the Hans Eisler Hochschule in Berlin. Sevak earned numerous international awards that gave him access to prestigious international stages. He is a member of the Avanesyan Trio, along with his brother Hrachya and the pianist Libeer. The Trio has perfected its art with the Artemis Quatuor at the Chapelle musicale Reine Elisabeth. Sevak Avanesyan plays on a cello known as “the King”, by Mateo Gofriller, graciously lent to him by Mischa Maisky.

Born in Yerevan in 1993, Yessaï Karapetian is a pianist, flutist (shvi, pogh) and composer living in Paris. He performed from age 12 with various musical formations (pop, jazz, traditional Armenian) in concert halls and festivals including the Zenith in Paris, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Casino de Paris, the Sofia Opera, the Yerevan Opera, the Marseille Dôme, Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents, at.tension festival (Germany) and Jazz à la Villette. In 2014 he was admitted to the Jazz and Improvized Music class of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique of Paris. Yessaï is currently co-leader of the trio ONEFOOT, which recorded “Mektonized” in 2017, an album produced by André Manoukian. The group is currently on tour promoting this album throughout the spring of 2018 in festivals such as Cully Jazz (Switzerland), Cosmo Jazz (Chamonix), Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents and Fusion (Allemagne). The Trio earned the Tarrazi funds award in 2014 and 2017 and the Prix de la Fondation Meyer in 2015.

Alexandr Iradyan was born in 1990 in Yerevan. As a composer and pianist, Iradyan has represented Armenia in more than 15 countries. His music was performed in the UK, Russia, France, Belgium, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Georgia, USA etc. In 2011 for his Symphony No.2 “Six answers” Alexandr was awarded a First Prize of Aram Khachaturian International Competition. In 2012 Iradyan created the biggest orchestral score based on architectural proportions of the building “Notre Dame symphony”. In April 2015 Iradyan was a tremendous success with a premiere of his “DNA15-15″ dedicated to the 100 anniversary of Armenian Genocide with a National Orchestra of Belgium, conducted by George Pehlivanian at “Palais de BOZAR” (Brussels).