On February 5, Aram Khachaturian concert hall will host a concert in celebration of composer Edgar Hovhannisyan’s 80th birth anniversary.
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, under the guidance of Vardan Hokobyan will perform a concert program featuring compositions of Hovhannisyan, Spendiarian and Prokofiev.
Edgar Hovhannisyan, (January 14, 1930 – December 28, 1998) was an Armenian composer, Professor of Composition at Yerevan State Conservatory, People's Artist of the USSR (1986).
He graduated from Yerevan State Conservatory in 1953, then pursued post-graduate work at the Moscow Conservatory, under famed Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian. He was the director of the State Opera and Ballet Theater in Yerevan in 1962-1968.
Hovhannisyan is widely considered among the most influential Armenian composers of the 20th century. He is the author of ballets, including "Joan of Arc", "Sulamif", and "Marmar". He also experimented with various musical styles, including neo-classical, folk-based styles, and even jazz ("Concert Variations for Saxophone and Jazz Orchestra"), opera ("The Travel to Erzrum"), various vocal-orchestral works (e.g. the oratorio "Grikor Naregatsi", the hymn of Yerevan), and numerous film scores.
