Armenia’s youth orchestra joining Aurora Awards
The Armenian State Youth Orchestra is joining the Aurora Awards on April 24, the day marking 101st anniversary of the Genocide.
The Orchestra’s Artistic Director Sergey Smbatyan, who is the event’s musical director, describes the initiative as a universal humanitarian effort aimed to raise publicity of the great evil.
“Participation in the Aurora Awards is a big honor to me and the Armenian State Youth Orchestra,” he said.
“Through Aurora, we must call the international community’s attention to the aftermaths of the evil called genocide, as well as use the power of art to end violence and raise the public importance of humanism. Exactly one year ago, the international band 24/04, representing 120 musicians from 40 countries, were raising this particular problem. So 24/04 and Aurora pursue similar objectives.”
The awards will be accompanied by a concert program featuring well-known pieces by Armenian composers (Avet Terteryan, Aram Khachatryan, Charles Aznavour) to symbolize the idea of renaissance. Among the performers will be opera singer Gevorg Hakobyan (bariton) and the chamber choir Hover.