The singing ambassador of Armenia in Israel

[man]

http://www.armenews.com/IMG/arton95122-480x321.jpg

The Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem receives Charles Aznavour

http://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=95122

Tuesday, November 26, 2013, Stéphane © armenews.com

 

The famous Armenian singer Charles Aznavour visited the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem .

Mr. Aznavour came into the country for a concert and today he visited the Armenian monastery because he wanted to meet with the Armenian Church and the Armenian community in the Holy Land .

Pupils from St Tarkmanchatz school waited impatiently for the famous Armenian singer, and sang songs to welcome him warmly. They waited outside the patriarchy, and cheered enthusiastically when they saw him.

The Priests of Saint- Jacques accompanied Mr. Aznavour during his visit of the St. James Cathedral. When coming out of the church, many Armenians wanted to take pictures with him, and to their great joy, Aznavour readily agreed. After the visit to the holy places of the cathedral was over, Aznavout took private leave.

Aznavour had a private audience with His Beatitude Archbishop Nourhan, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem.

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The Singing Ambassador

There is a singing Ambassador, to my best knowledge he is the only singing Ambassador in the world, and the oldest active Ambassador since he is 89 years old (of course singing makes one stay young); he is the Ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland since 2009. His name is Charles Aznavour and he resides in the place of his ambassadorship in Switzerland. Aznavour has dual citizenship, Armenian and French (or was it Swiss?).

He was invited by the Israeli President Shimon Peres not for political business but for giving a concert in Tel Aviv. On Friday 22 November, before the concert on Saturday, Shimon Peres invited the Armenian Ambassador for lunch who was glad to be hosted by the Israeli President. On Friday he also gave a press conference saying he has come to sing for peace; he said also that he was saddened that Israel has still not recognized the Armenian Genocide by the Turks. He said Jews and Armenians, two people, who know how to love life (la vie) otherwise they would not have survived for so long.

 

His Saturday night concert was well received by the Israeli public. There are few songs from that concert posted in You-Tube, just put in YouTube search tap:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Charles+Aznavour+in+Israel+November+2013&sm=12

[man]

Renowned pianist Sergei Babayan to perform in Israel
November 25, 2013
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/173077/

PanARMENIAN.Net - A top Armenian-American pianist Sergei Babayan will perform a single concert November 26 in Israel to open the country’s young pianists’ competition, culbyt.com said.

Babayan began his musical studies at age six. A student of legendary teachers and musicians as Gornostayeva, Naumov, Pletnev and Vlasenko in the Moscow Conservatory, Sergei Babayan was one of the the first pianists from the former USSR who was able to compete without government sponsorship after the collapse of the system.

In 1989, Babayan travelled to the United States. That same year he won first prize in the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition.After he won first prize in the Palm Beach International Piano Competition and first prize in the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, he became a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in 1991. He won first prize in the Scottish International Piano Competition and third prize at the Busoni International Piano Competition. He was a prize winner at the Esther Honens International Piano Competition.

In 1996, Babayan founded the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

[MeadeAlice]

I was not aware of this.