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The “Armenia” International Festival and Competition launched on July 4 with the performance of the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra headed by conductor Eduard Topchjan. Maestro Topchjan told Panorama.am that he highly appreciates the cooperation with the organizers of the “Armenia” Festival and Competition, particularly with the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia.

“We have done with Sergey Smbatyan what we should have done long time ago – we would have been together. I am very happy for this and since that it will continue this way. We have lots of projects, thinking about many things and this is amazin.! We are thinking about the future Armenian musicians, about the quality of the education. It is easier being together. I think that first of all the “Armenia” Festival and Competition was the result of our unity. Sergey Smbatyan invited us to participate in the “Armenia” Festival and Competition and I agreed as a sign of close friendship. I highly appreciate the fact that the Youth Orchestra managed to gather the Armenian orchestra’s (Philharmonic, Chamber, Youth). They were together during the festival, which is amazing. I was thinking what was the problem that this had not happened so far. Now the important thing is that everything is all right,” Eduard Topchjan noted.

The Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra noted that today, Armenia is a little bit left out of the world music. “Although all of us have done something during these years. Famous musicians arrived in Armenia, loved Armenia. Both Youth and Philharmonic orchestras did great job. Numerous festivals are held in Armenia at a high level. Very good musicians participated in the “Armenia” Festival and Competition. Maxim Vengerov performed at the closing concert.

All of this certainly contributes to our ability to enter into that basic movement. I remember that a few years ago nobody from classical sphere knew where the Armenia was on the map. Now many know where our country is, however we have to work harder to achieve a solid place. And all of these must be done systematically. Even if there are separate initiatives, everyone should serve for a purpose to make Armenia's name mean something in the classical music world. In that case, the musicians of Armenia will benefit.”

48 pianists from 14 countries participated in the first “Armenia” International Competition. The geography of the participants is very wide and Eduard Topchjan highly appreciates it.

To note, this year Topchjan was one of the jury members of the Khachaturian International Competition. Maestro Topchjan noted that he was part of the exceptional jury with Isabel Bayrakdarian, John Fisher, Richard Rodzinsky, Mark Hildrew, etc.

“Tastes are different in music. But it seems to me that music can be distinguished: it can be very well, good, extraordinary, average. I was convinced once again that during the competitions the highest-level specialist looks at everything with his own prism, from his point of view. As a member of the jury, I noticed that everything was really neutral, and everyone did the way he thought. Interestingly, no one's opinion was affected by another. The jury had disagreements, which, undoubtedly, was normal,” Maestro Topchjan said.

To remind, the organizers of the 1st “Armenia” International Festival and Competition, held in Yerevan from July 4 to July 12, were the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia and European Foundation for Support of Culture. It was held with the support of the Armenian Ministry of Culture and under the high patronage of the first lady of Armenia Rita Sargsyan.

48 pianists from 14 countries participated in the competition, with he best 5 pianists getting a chance to compete in Malta International Piano Competition in 2018. This competition has the biggest prize fond in the world (200 000 Euro). It should be noted that world famous stars Maxim Vengerov, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Roman Kim, Nareh Arghamanyan and others performed within the framework of the “Armenia” International Festival.