YEREVAN, MAY 22, ARMENPRESS. Renowned Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof  Penderecki has been named as the honorary chairman of the jury of the 14th Aram Khachaturian International Competition.

“The competition is a very good chance for beginning musicians”, the maestro has said.

The competition will start June 6.

The jury will choose the best from 16 cellists from nine countries in seven days.

The Khachaturian International Competition is held in Yerevan from June 6 to June 14 every year starting from 2003. For the first time it was implemented within the framework of events, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of great composer. In 2013 the Khachaturian competition was elected as a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions becoming the only Armenian competition ever honored with such a privilege.  

Initially the competition was aimed at identifying talented young musicians in five specialties – “Piano”, “Violin” , “Cello”, "Conducting", "Vocal". 

The project is being implemented thanks to joint efforts of RA Ministry of Culture, “Aram Khachaturian-competition” Cultural Foundation and Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. The Board of Trustees includes such well-known figures as: Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Reinhart von Gutzeit, Pavel Kogan, Elizbieta Penderecka, Alexander Sokolov, Alexander Tchaikovsky, Mark Zilberquit, Constantine Orbelian and other significant persons. In 2008, during a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees a new President, Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, composer, and RA honored artist Professor Armen Smbatyan was elected.

The geography of participants is very wide: it incorporates representatives from the CIS countries, U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Britain, China and other countries.

More than 10 years in a row the competition jury members have included such important musicians and artists, as Grigori Zhislin (UK), Jan Ter-Merkeryan (France), Zahar Bron (Germany), Vladimir Landsman (Canada), Jasper Perrot (UK), Rustem Ayrudinov (UK), Chun Pan (China), Boris Kushnir (Austria), Harald Herzl (Austria), Sergey Kravchenko (Russia), Lucy Ishkhanian (USA), Alexander Sokolov (Russia), Svetlana Navasardian (Armenia), and others. A list of these names guarantees justice and determines the status and high level of the competition.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan