Aram Khachaturian International Competition Announces First Vocal Competition

The Aram Khachaturian International Competition announces its first-ever vocal competition will take place in Yerevan, Armenia from June 4-16, 2017. Under the patronage of the First Lady of the Republic of Armenia Rita Sargsyan, the competition is open to young singers between the ages of 18-35 years of age (all voice types, except countertenor), regardless of citizenship or nationality. The deadline for application materials is April 25, 2017. Materials should be emailed to: info@akhic.am. Prizes include $10,000 and concert engagements (first prize); $5000 (second prize); and $3000 (third prize). A downloadable application form can also be found at http://www.akhic.am/en/rules.

Serving as Chairman for this year's jury is world-renowned conductor Constantine Orbelian. Orbelian has led concerts and recordings with some of the world's greatest singers including Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sumi Jo, Jonas Kaufmann, Marcelo Alvarez, and Lawrence Brownlee. He is also the Artistic Director of the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Yerevan, Armenia, Music Director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia of Russia, and the Kaunas City Symphony in Lithuania. Other distinguished members of this year's panel are internationally-acclaimed soprano and winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and four consecutive Juno Awards, Isabel Bayrakdarian; sought-after vocal coach, and former Artistic Administrator of La Scala and Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Welsh National Opera (WNO) John Fisher; Executive Director of Askonas Holt, Mark Hildrew; director of Manhattan School of Music's Senior Opera Theater, Opera Hispanica, and Juilliard faculty member Jorge Parodi; former President Emeritus, Van Cliburn Competition, General Director of the 2011 Tchaikovsky competition; and former artistic administrator for the San Francisco and Metropolitan Operas, Richard Rodzinski; Deputy Artistic Director of Arena di Verona and clarinetist, Giampiero Sobrino; baritone and soloist with the Yerevan Opera Theater, and winner First Prize and Gold Medal at the First International Pavel Lisitsian Baritone Competition, Gevorg Hakobyan; and stage director and former General Director of the Latvian National Opera, Andejs Zagars.

Now in its 13th year, the Aram Khachaturian International Competition has been held in Yerevan, Armenia each June since 2003, when it was added to the events celebrating the composer's centennial. In 2014, the Competition was added to the World Federation of Music Competitions, the only Armenian competition awarded such an honor.

INFORMATION AND REQUIREMENTS:

Preliminary Auditions:

Participants must provide jury with a link to an online video consisting of two arias of his/her choice from the classical or romantic period, the minimum duration should be 10 minutes. The arias must be performed in the original key and language. Only videos made after June 6, 2014 are accepted. Videos should be taken by one fixed camera without any interruption during one piece. Participants must provide a list of compositions, including the date and duration of each video.

1st Round:

Two arias: one from an opera, oratorio, or cantata of the participant's choice from the 17th or 18th centuries; a second from Vivaldi's Il Tigrane (arias can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4HUW7jwjoMVMzdzaFJBSnk4Mlk

One 19th or 20th century aria, oratorio, or cantata of the participant's choice.

One compulsory song or group of songs by Komitas. A list of Komitas' songs and download links for scores can found here: http://www.akhic.am/en/program.

2nd Round:

One aria from an opera, cantata or oratorio from the 19th-20th century.

One aria from an opera by Russian composer.

One song with piano or a cappella from the participant's country of origin.

One obligatory song/romance by an Armenian composer.

The list of the songs/romances for each voice type and scores can be downloaded from the competition website: http://www.akhic.am/en/program

3rd/Final Round (with orchestra):

One aria from an opera, cantata or oratorio from the 19th-20th century.

One obligatory aria from Tigran Tchoukhadjian's opera, Arshak II (Italian version). The list of the arias for each voice and scores of the arias from the above-mentioned opera can be downloaded from the competition website.

MORE ABOUT THE ARAM KHACHATURIAN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION:

The Aram Khachaturian International Competition has aimed at identifying talented young musicians since 2003 when it launched as part of the centennial celebrations for the beloved Armenian composer. Held each June in Yerevan, the original three categories consisted of piano, violin, and cello. In 2016, a conducting category was added by a unanimous vote of all the members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions. The year 2017 marks its first-ever vocal competition. In 2014, the Competition was added to the World Federation of Music Competitions, becoming the only Armenian competition awarded such an honor. The 60th General Assembly of the World Federation of International Music Competitions was held in 2016 in Armenia gathering more than 115 delegates from 6 continents.

Participants for the competition come from all around the world and include representatives from the CIS countries, U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Germany Spain, Belgium, the UK, China and other others.

Organized by the RA Ministry of Culture, "Aram Khachaturian-competition" Cultural Foundation, and Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, the competition is under the patronage of the First Lady of the Republic of Armenia Rita Sargsyan, who serves as the honorary president of the Board of Trustees of the competition. The Board of Trustees is comprised of many well-known figures including Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Professor Reinhart von Gutzeit, Pavel Kogan, Elizbieta Penderecki, Professor Alexander Sokolov, Professor Alexander Tchaikovsky, ??rk Zilberquit, and others. In 2008, during a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees a new President, Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, composer, and RA honored artist Professor Armen Smbatyan was elected.

Past competition jury members have included such illustrious musicians and artists as Grigori Zhislin (UK), Jan Ter-Merkeryan (France), Zahar Bron (Germany), Vladimir Landsman (Canada), Jasper Perrot (UK), Rustem Ayrudinov (UK), Chun Pan (China), Boris Kushnir (Austria), Harald Herzl (Austria), Sergey Kravchenko (Russia), Lucy Ishkhanian (USA), Alexander Sokolov (Russia), Svetlana Navasardian (Armenia), and others.