NewsMUSICAL ARMENIA at CARNEGIE HALL/ Hotel Elefant, Timo Andres, & Jeffrey Gavett
Featured Composer A collection of Kouyoumdjian's works will be presented by Musical Armenia on March 18, 2018 at Carnegie Hall. In a uniquely acoustic set, these works continue Kouyoumdjian's portraits of displaced peoples and victims of genocide and war, including performances by ensemble Hotel Elefant, pianist Timo Andres, baritone Jeffrey Gavett, and text by Royce Vavrek.
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Intensely moving, boldly beautiful, this could be the future of a new kind of documentary” |
PAPER PIANOS/ with Alarm Will Sound, directed by Nigel Maister
Wins 2017 MAP Fund Grant
Wins 2017 MAP Fund Grant
Led by Artistic Director Alan Pierson with stage direction by Nigel Maister, Alarm Will Sound is commissioning an evening-length work from composer Mary Kouyoumdjian. Paper Pianos will explore the refugee experience through the life of pianist Milad Yousufi who was forced to flee Afghanistan to avoid persecution. Incorporating recorded dialogue from interviews with Mr. Yousufi, as well as photographic and animated images, Paper Pianos will dramatize the emotional plight of displacement and resettlement experienced by refugees throughout the world.
Featured Video
Commissioned by Kronos Quartet – Lebanon, once the refuge where my grandparents and great-grandparents sought safety from the Armenian Genocide, became the dangerous home my parents and brother were forced to abandon during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). We often read stories and see images in the news about violent events in the Middle East, but we very rarely get to hear the perspective of an individual who lived through them. Inspired by loved ones who grew up during the Lebanese Civil War, it is my hope that Bombs of Beirut provides a sonic picture of what day-to-day life is like in a turbulent Middle East –– not filtered through the news and media, but through the real words of real people. The prerecorded backing track includes interviews with family and friends who shared their various experiences living in a time of war; it also presents sound documentation of bombings and attacks on civilians tape-recorded on an apartment balcony between 1976-1978.
Header photo by Dominica Eriksen