The 13th Khachaturian International Festival Kicks Off

The 13th Aram Khachaturian International Festival is getting underway, once again turning Yerevan into a center of the global musical arts, as it has done for more than a decade. According to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the Festival is being held with the support of the Ministry and the Aram Khachaturian Cultural Foundation.

The Festival’s opening concert will take place on December 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall. The program will feature Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto, performed by violinist and international competition laureate Hayk Kazazyan. In the second half of the concert, the orchestra, conducted by Italian maestro Gianluca Marcianò, will perform Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

The Festival’s other concerts will feature cellist Emmanuel Graf, pianists Denis Kozhukhin and Antonio Di Cristofano, and the Eduard Mirzoyan String Quartet.

The concerts will be conducted by Sergey Smbatyan, Gianluca Marcianò, Vahagn Papyan, and Bojan Suđić.

As part of the Festival, a dedicated concert will feature works by Arvo Pärt, Honorary Member of the Board of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, marking the composer’s 90th anniversary.

The Festival’s main partner is the Yerevan Municipality, while its strategic sponsor is Freedom Broker Armenia. Through this partnership, young Armenian opera singers will have the opportunity to participate in masterclasses and perform in a joint concert with Maestro Gianluca Marcianò.

The musical event will conclude on December 19 with the festive concert “Symphonic New Year: Khachaturian + Jazz” at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex.

The Festival was founded in 2013 by Sergey Smbatyan, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, to mark the 110th anniversary of the great composer.

Since 2021, the Khachaturian International Festival has been a member of the European Festivals Association, meeting the standards of leading European festivals. Membership in the Association creates new opportunities for the promotion of Khachaturian’s compositional legacy.