AGBU announces Sayat Nova International Composition Competition

PanARMENIAN.Net - Musicians around the world are now being invited to participate in the AGBU Sayat Nova International Composition Competition for the chance to win up to 2,500 Euros and showcase their work under an international spotlight.

The Sayat Nova International Composition Competition, now in its second edition, has three main objectives: to discover new talent, provide emerging artists with financial support, and record and distribute their work to a broad audience. For composers, it presents the perfect opportunity to raise their profile while paying tribute to the celebrated troubadour.

The 2012 Sayat Nova International Composition Competition, which marks the 300-year anniversary of the birth of the composer, is calling for submissions from young musicians in every corner of the globe.

Participants need not be of Armenian descent; submissions from all artists who are interested in creating Armenian-influenced music are being considered.

As Christian Erbslöh-Papazian, a pianist and musicologist who initiated the competition comments, "As an artist, blending classical music, which has mostly been documented on paper, with traditional music, which has long been transmitted orally, is most difficult, yet incredibly rewarding. By utilizing both the classical and the traditional, we can create the musical heritage of tomorrow."

To that end, participants are asked to create a composition for a chamber ensemble that incorporates six instruments, including the duduk, the traditional woodwind instrument that can be traced back centuries in Armenian culture. Submitted work must also contain one quotation, spoken or sung, from a text of Sayat Nova in Armenian or translated into a Western language (i.e. English, German, French, Italian, Spanish or Russian).

The winning pieces will be recorded and produced at a special concert on the occasion of the tercentenary of the birth of Sayat Nova, an anniversary celebration with which UNESCO is associated.

The concert will be held at the prestigious Parisian venue Salle Cortot in December 2012.