YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–A festival dedicated to the 80th birthday of outstanding Armenian composer and pianist Arno Babajanian will be held in Yerevan September 7-9. At his September 5 news conference–Chairman of the "Fund in memory of Arno Babajanian"–the great composer’s son Ara Babajanian said that the festival is organized by the Ministry of Culture–Youth Affairs and Sport–Union of Composers of Armenia and the Fund.
As part of the festival a scientific conference will be held at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences September 6–where research done about the composer’s heritage will be presented.
The ceremonial opening of the festival will be held at the Aram Khachaturian concert hall September 7–and Arno Babajanian’s symphonic compositions will be performed.
The composer’s works will be performed at the State Opera September 8. His songs will be performed by Joseph Kobzon–Raisa Mkrtichian–Georgy Minasyan–Ara Babajanian–Leila Seribekian–and others.
Babajanian’s chamber compositions will be performed at the House of Chamber Music. Participating in the concert will be the Komitas quartet–"Shell" trio–the pianists Svetlana Navasardian–Sergey Musaelian–Karine Oghanian–and others. Honored Artist of Russia–the trumpeter Vladimir Tartakovsky–who was the first to perform Babajanian’s music for William Saroyan’s play "My heart is in the mountains"–will perform this composition.
Executive Director of the Fund–Robert Hakobian said that on the occasion of Arno Babajanian’s 80th birthday the concert hall of the Yerevan Center of Culture will be named after the great composer. The composer’s museum will be opened and a monument will be constructed in his honor in Yerevan. Gregory Minassian–who currently lives in Los Angeles–will give a solo concert September 20–and all the proceeds will be donated to the construction of the monument for Arno Babajanian in Yerevan.
The book "Our Arno" is ready for publication this month and it contains the memoirs about the outstanding composer.