This lecture will present a transcription and arrangement of the ode Ընտրեալըդ յԱստուծոյ (“Elect of God”) by the greatest unsung hero in Armenian sacred music – the Venetian composer, violinist and conductor Pietro Bianchini (1828-1905), as performed in the nineteenth century in San Lazzaro in Venice. It serves as a wonderful witness from an age and milieu enriched by enormously fruitful interactions between Armenian and European music, literature and theology, and involving such extraordinary personages as Yeghia Tntesian, Fr. Ghewond Alishan and Abp. Ignatios Kiwreghian. The presentation is a culmination of research carried out at the archives of St. Mark’s in Venice, the Armenian island of San Lazzaro and at the Library of Congress, and will include live and recorded musical illustrations.
Haig Utidjian, PhD, is an orchestral conductor, chorus master and musicologist. In his native Cyprus he was a pupil of Abp. Zareh Aznavorian of blessed memory, and is a Senior Deacon of the Armenian Church, with research interests in the musicology and theology of the Armenian Hymnal and the works of St. Gregory of Narek. He was decorated with the Komitas medal, and the Hakob Meghapart medal of the National Library of Armenia.
Admission | £5 to include a wine and nibbles reception