YerazArt Foundation Fellows Winning Awards Around the Globe

38
0

BELMONT, Mass. — Since its inception almost a decade ago, the YerazArt Foundation has been identifying young, talented musicians from Armenia and helping them to reach their full artistic potential. YerazArt programs offer professional development opportunities and financial assistance to musicians to participate in master classes and international competitions and to perform on world stages. Through YerazArt’s Advisory Board, young Armenian talents also gain access to an extensive network of musicians, in Armenia and abroad, which provides mentoring, career counseling and admission opportunities to the best music programs worldwide.

Over the last few years, YerazArt has also instituted an Instrument Donation Program (IDP), both in Yerevan and in remote regions, with a primary focus on instruments that are in danger of extinction such as the woodwind, percussion and brass instruments. “We are very proud of our YerazArt Fellows and their achievements to-date. We invest significant time and resources in identifying and assisting the most deserving young musicians in Armenia and it is so rewarding to see the results of this diligent effort in the accomplishments of these young, talented musicians,” said Nicole Babikian Hajjar, chair of the YerazArt Foundation.

YerazArt fellow Mane Galoyan, a 21-year-old soprano, received the first prize of $10,000 at the 27th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers on February 5, at the Houston Grand Opera, Texas.

Galoyan was the featured artist at the YerazArt Foundation’s Annual Benefit Event this past fall. Earlier in 2014, with support from YerazArt, Galoyan participated in two international competitions: one in Kazakhstan, the 7th International Bibigul Tulegenova Singing Competition, where she also won First Prize, and more recently in China, at the Fifth China International Vocal Competition Ningbo, where she ranked fourth. Mane’s connection to YerazArt dates back to 2009, when she was invited to take part in the YerazArt North American Concert Tour in the fall of that year.

“I am very grateful to YerazArt and feel very lucky and honored to benefit from their support for so many years,” Galoyan said. “I am particularly happy that I was able to develop my abilities and now feel really great on the verge of new challenges.”

Daniel Melkonyan, a 15-year-old trumpet player, was awarded the Bronze Nutcracker, claiming third place at the prestigious 15th International Nutcracker TV Contest for Young Musicians held in December 2014, in Moscow. Forty-nine young musicians had applied to participate in the wind instruments category, of which 19 were trumpeters. Of these trumpeters, only two were selected — one from Russia and one from Armenia. This is the first time in the competition’s history that an Armenian wind instrumentalist is awarded a prize.

Get the Mirror in your inbox:

Melkonyan was subsequently invited to perform at the New Names of CIS Countries Concert held on March 2 in Voronezh — the city named as the cultural capital of Russia in 2015. YerazArt provided support for Melkonyan to participate at both events. In 2013, through its Instrument Donation Program, YerazArt supplied several new instruments, including a trumpet, to Melkonyan’s school, the Tchaikovsky Special Music School Yerevan.

“I am very grateful to the YerazArt Foundation for its continuous support, which helped me reach my goals,” Melkonyan said. “I am feeling very much inspired with the new perspectives ahead of me and will do my best to justify the high confidence they have in me.”

Another YerazArt Fellow, 15-year-old violin prodigy Diana Adamyan, was invited to perform with Maestro Pinchas Zukerman and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert dedicated to the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide Centennial in London on July 21. In addition, for the second year in a row, Adamyan has been invited to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada, where she will attend their Young Artists Program in June, with support from YerazArt.

Last year, Adamyan participated on a full scholarship at the 16th Annual National Arts Centre Summer Music Institute, Young Artists Program, where she worked with Zukerman, music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, along with 70 other gifted students from Canada and abroad who were all chosen through a competitive process.

Adamyan is the 2012 winner of the Silver Nutcracker Award, at the prestigious Nutcracker International TV Contest for Young Musicians, held annually in Moscow. In 2013, she was the featured guest artist at the YerazArt Foundation’s Annual Benefit Event held in Lexington,.

For more information about the Yerazart Foundation and its programs, visit www.yerazart.org or

https://www.facebook.com/Yerazart?fref=ts

Get the Mirror-Spectator Weekly in your inbox: