LOS ANGELES — The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra (ANPO), one of the leading orchestras of the former Soviet Union, under the direction of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Eduard Topchjan performs at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tuesday, May 12, at 8 pm. The concert marks the first time the 90-year-old institution has performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The program featuring music by Armenian composers opens with Khachaturian’s Spartacus Suite from his acclaimed ballet. The next work on the program is well-known classical and film score composer Tigran Mansurian’s Violin Concerto, featuring Ms. Anush Nikoghosyan. The program closes with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.
The ANPO concert is dedicated to the Centennial of Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra (ANPO) is based in Yerevan, Armenia. Established 90 years ago by Arshak Adamian and Alexander Spendiaryan, it is the national center of professional orchestral music in Armenia. In October 2000, Eduard Topchjan was appointed the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the ANPO. Being led to the new millennium by Maestro Topchjan the ANPO is committed to promoting cultural, musical awareness in local audiences, regularly performing classical and operatic music in addition to national and contemporary music. Since its foundation, the orchestra has performed most of the classical repertoire. Many of the world’s leading artists, such as David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Emil Gilels, Renato Bruson, Steven Isserlis, Misha Maisky, Sergei Nakariakov, Boris Berezovsky, Natalia Gutman, Giuseppe Giacomini, Isabelle Faust, Julia Fischer, Pinchas Zukerman, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Placido Domingo and many others, as well as already established and emerging Armenian musicians, have appeared with this orchestra. The ANPO features the works of Armenian and international composers and is committed to supporting the performance of new orchestral works in programs interesting not only for regular visitors and connoisseurs, but also for tourists and young people. The ANPO serves as Ambassador of Armenian music worldwide and tours regularly. Since 1989, the ANPO has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Lebanon, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Greece, Iran, Cyprus, Turkey, Russia, and the U.A.E. Recent tours were to Japan in 2008 with 15 concerts, and Germany and Slovakia in 2010, and additional tours in 2014 and 2015 to Italy, Germany, France and Scandinavian countries. More than 30 CDs have been released with the orchestra’s recordings. The most recent ones – Armenian Rhapsody, released in 2011 by BIS Records, Sweden and Mozart Piano Concerti and Overtures released by Oehms Classics, Germany in 2014, were highly acclaimed by international reviewers.
Eduard Topchjan began conducting in 1991. Since then, he has founded the Serenade Chamber Orchestra and won prizes at various international competitions, such as Valentino Bucchi and Valzolda. Topchjan made his debut with the ANPO in 2000. In 2001, after being appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor he appeared with the ANPO in Moscow, and again in 2003 at the Bolshoi Theater. This was followed by the ANPO tours throughout the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia and France. In 2008, the ANPO led by Topchjan made a very successful tour in Japan with 15 concerts. More recently, the ANPO and Topchjan toured Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany and Slovakia. Topchjan has also been the principal conductor of the Yerevan International Music Festival since 2007. Also in 2007, he was granted the title of Meritorious Worker of Arts of Armenia. Other honors include being awarded a Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia in 2011, and knighthood awarded by the Italian Order of Merit for Labour in 2013.
Young Armenian violinist Anush Nikoghosyan was born in Yerevan. She studied with Distinguished Teacher of Armenia Petros Haykazian and currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (class of Prof. Christoph Poppen), with parallel classes in Yerevan with Eduard Topchjan. Since 2014, Anush has been studying master-classes with Professor Julia Fischer. As a soloist she has appeared with Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kaerntner Sinfonieorchester, Kurpfaelzisches kammerorchester Mannheim, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kaunas Chamber Orchestra, the Armenian Chamber Players, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Orchestra and other orchestras under the baton of Eduard Topchjan, Dmitri Liss, Leos Svarovsky, Pavel Berman, Alexander Treger, Emmanuel Siffert, Markus Bosch, Ernest Hoetzl and other conductors. Anush has won prizes at numerous international violin competitions, most important from them: 1st prize in 2010 “International Kaerntner Sparkasse Woerthersee” competition (Austria). Following this significant win, Anush received many invitations in some of the most prominent concert halls and with renowned orchestras, including an invitation to perform at the well known “Pacific Music Festival Sapporo” (Japan) as a soloist under Fabio Luisi. Anush Nikoghosyan toured Armenia, Lithuania, Russia, England, U.A.E., France, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia and Austria. She often performs works by contemporary composers, among them: Mansurian, Yerkanian, Dott, Penderecki, Zakaryan, Israelyan, Chaushian and others.
