The State Symphony Orchestra of Armenia reports that during the final concert of the 16th Armenian Composers’ Festival, an Armenian premiere took place: pianist Rieko Tsuchida performed the Piano Concerto by French-Armenian composer Michel Legrand for the first time with the Orchestra, conducted by Gianluca Marciano.
During her career, Michel Legrand has been nominated 13 times and has won the Academy Award three times. She has also received the Grammy and Emmy awards five times and the Golden Globe awards 12 times.
Pianist Rieko Tsuchida is presenting Legrand’s Piano Concerto for the first time and admits that she performs it with great pleasure. Rieko Tsuchida notes that she has begun to discover more Armenian composers. He is familiar with the art of Aram Khachaturian and has performed his works (especially chamber).
Vardan Achemyan’s Symphony No. 4 was also performed during the evening. Vardan Achemyan is one of the most gifted composers of his generation, whose works have been performed in Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Iceland, Poland, Russia, Great Britain, Switzerland, and the USA.
It should be noted that the Armenian Composer’s Art Festival is one of the significant events in the cultural life of Armenia and, since its establishment in 2010, has steadfastly followed its mission of preserving and expanding the recognition of the Armenian classical and modern composer’s school traditions. The annual festival was held with the efforts of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and its artistic director and chief conductor Sergey Smbatyan, and has always had the support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Armenia. Since 2022, it has been held jointly with the Composers’ Union of Armenia. The strategic partner of the 16th Festival of Armenian Composers’ Art is Team Telecom Armenia.
Within the festival’s framework, the music-loving public was presented with many works by Armenian composers that have not been performed for many years and premieres of works by contemporary composers. One of the festival’s targeted components is the recording, video recording, digitization, and preservation of symphonic works by Armenian composers. During the festival, more than 100 works by Armenian composers were digitized, more than 250 musical works were recorded, and more than 170 premieres were held.
