The Armenian Cultural Days within the Malta International Music Festival have turned even brighter thanks to the performances of talented Armenian children. The Culture and Art Foundation scholarship holders Meri Musinyan (qanun), Gevorg Stepanyan (duduk), Elen Harutyunyan (piano) and Vahram Hovhannisyan (vocal) have joined the Armenian delegation to Malta by the invitation of the European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC).

 

  

The performances of young Armenian talents are received extremely well and the audience has grown sincerely interested in Armenian national musical instruments, the qanun and duduk.

 

On the day of arrival, the kids gave a performance at the Parliament of Malta and received a warm welcome from Speaker of the House of Representatives Anġlu Farrugia, who attended the concert.

Laureate of multiple contests, 11-year-old Meri Musisyan has been to Malta before. She visited the country once by the invitation of Konstantin Ishkhanov within the “New Names” program.

 

Although Meri has performed in the world’s best music halls, she has told Mediamax that her favorite place is the Yerevan Chamber Music Hall. Meri has also recalled her time in the Russian “The Best” TV program and noted she made many friends there and still keeps in touch with them.

 

Mentioning on her repertoire, Meri has remarked that she can play anything on qanun, even jazz. The girl’s lucky charm is the “Impromptu” by her teacher Tsovinar Hovhannisyan, which she plays at every concert.

 

“I dream that one day duduk and qanun will feature in soundtracks to Hollywood films and I want to play with all orchestras in the world. I feel very tired after practicing sometimes, but I love this way of life,” Meri said.

 

10-year-old duduk player Gevorg Stepanyan also has experience in playing on a big stage. In 2017, he represented Armenia in the World Happiness Fest and performed with Djivan Gasparyan in Kremlin. Gevorg received the first place diploma for his performance.

“The Kremlin concert went very well. People learned more about duduk and I was very happy when they clapped for a very long time and didn’t want us to leave the stage,” Gevorg recalled.

 

For Vahram Hovhannisyan, this is the first tour. He has told Mediamax that singing is a talent passing through generation in his family, so when he stands on the stage, he feels proud to carry on “the family business”.

The oldest kid in the group is 17-year-old Elen Harutyunyan. She is a Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation scholarship holder since 2012 and performs in the Tchaikovsky Music School’s jazz band conducted by Armen Hyusnunts.

 

“Yes, I love jazz, but I see myself as a classical musician in the future,” noted Elen.

The rich concert programme of the Armenian delegation has featured compositions by Komitas, Aram Khachaturian, Tsovinar Hovhannisyan, Levon Malkhasyan, as well as Sergey Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, and Alexey Shor.

 

Elen and the rest of the group weren’t the only gifted children to perform, as their Maltese counterparts Daphne Delicata, Lizzie Anna Faure (piano) and Raisa Marie Mikallef (soprano) played and sang at the concert.

Another talented youngster to join in was 13-year-old Dmitry Ishkhanov, already a laureate of many music contests. He performed in the concert at St. Augustine Monastery. He represented Malta in Eurovision Young Musicians 2016 and became the youngest contestant in history.

 

Anna Bubushyan (Malta)