The Freako Diva

Aram Khachaturian On September 16, 2017, the Armenian National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet after A. Spendiarian performed Aram Khacharurian's mood-lightening ballet Gayane, conducted by Atanes Arakelyan and staged by Vilen Galstyan (People's Artist of RA), also the head ballet-master. The stunning set was drawn by the talented Armenian painter and Honored Painter of RA Minas Avetisyan(1928-1975), and the costumes, which played with the set very well, were done by costume designer Rubine Hovhannisyan. Atanes Arakelyan Gayane : Syuzanna Pirumyan (Honored Artist of RA Armen: Sevak Avetisyan Giko: Grigor Grigorian Nune: Arshaluys Margaryan Karen: Garegin Babelyan Gayane's Father: Hrachua Hovhannisyan Giko's Father: Zaven Harutyunyan (Honored Artist of RA) Left to Right: Vilen Galstyan, Syuzanna Pirumyan, Sevak Avetisyan, Grigor Grigorian Although the plot of Gayane is tense, with all the unrequited love and kidnapping, the ending is happy. ...

Conductor Konstantin Orbelyan and Visual Director Paolo Micciche On September 14, 2017, the Armenian National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet after A. Spendiarian performed Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem , but with a visual twist of murals from the Sistine Chapel, done by Michelangelo. The pictures were projected by "innovative technologies of the future" which allowed to create a "three-dimensional reproduction of the images of Michelangelo's masterpieces". Conducted by San Francisco-born conductor Konstantin Orbelyan Jr. (nephew of the famous Armenian conductor Konstantin Orbelyan), soloists soprano Marine Deinyan, guest mezzo-soprano from the USA Eleni Matos, bass Hayk Tigranyan, and tenor Sargis Aghamalyan performed Verdi's Requiem in this new realization of the stunning centerpiece of classical music. The visual effects were created by Italian stage and visual director Paolo Micciche. In Micciche's own words, "[t]he music of Verdi...