Solange Merdinian to headline Gotham Early Music Scene’s new project

PanARMENIAN.Net - Gotham Early Music Scene is set to present “Global Roots: Mi Alma, Mi Voz, Mi Corazón” starting on June 3, 2022. The showcase, which will be headlined by Argentinean-Armenian mezzo-soprano Solange Merdinian, will take place at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church in Manhattan, Opera Wire reports.

There will also be a June 4 performance at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center followed by a June 5 presentation at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn.

Merdinian will be joined by violinist Dongmyung Ahn, guitarist Dusan Balarin, viola de gamba player Patricia Ann Neely, and percussionist Rex Benincasa. The repertory will explore folk and oral musical traditions in both Spanish and Armenian.

“By using period instruments, our Global Roots program also explores the intersection of folk music with Baroque style to show what is possible when we expand our lens on early music to include popular and cross-cultural idioms,” said Open Gates Project Co-Director Michele Kennedy, in an official press statement. “We envision this program to be a conversation across languages, genres, and cultural traditions that can help to broaden our collective sense of early music: what it sounds like, where it comes from, and how powerful it can be when we can all find personal reflections of ourselves in musical traditions presented on the stage.”

Acclaimed for her “smoldering stage presence,” (New York Times) her “richly-hued voice” (BBC Music Magazine), the Miami based American-Armenian-Argentinean singer Solange Merdinian has garnered an international reputation for her versatility and interpretation as a recitalist, chamber musician, and opera singer in repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary, folk, tango, cabaret, and world music.