SONGS OF EXILE to Play The Wallis Annenberg Center

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will present The Naghash Ensemble of Armenia, celebrating their 15th year, for one night only, November 18, 2026 at 7:30 pm. Composer and pianist John Hodian will bring his vocal and instrumental ensemble, created to perform the poetry of Armenian mystic poet, painter and priest Mkrtich Naghash, to Beverly Hills for the first time on our stage.

Written by Armenian-American composer John Hodian, Songs of Exile is a profound meditation on humanity's relationship to the divine, told through the voice of a monk cast into a long separation from his homeland. Experience music that bridges centuries with startling immediacy and spiritual force.

The Naghash Ensemble brings together the earthy spirituality of Armenian folk song, contemporary classical music, and post-minimalism with the driving energy of rock and jazz. Named after the medieval Armenian mystic poet, painter and priest Mkrtich Naghash (Mkrtich the Painter, 1394-1470 CE, Bishop of Diarbekr, Turkey) whose poetry describes the perils of living in exile and man's relationship to God, the ensemble reimagines his sacred texts in a strikingly modern musical language.

Three extraordinary female vocalists join Armenia's finest instrumentalists on duduk, oud, dhol, and piano to create a sound that is described as at once ancient and urgent – “part folk music, part classical, and profoundly moving. Unmistakably Armenian, but out of this world.”

The group features Hodian on piano, sopranos Hasmik Baghdasaryan, and Tatevik Movsesyan, and alto Shahane Zalyan, with Tigran Hovhannisyan on Dhol, Aram Nikoghosyan on the Oud, and Andranik Gasparyan on Duduk. 

John Hodian tells more about forming The Naghash Ensemble of Armenia: “The idea for The Naghash Ensemble came when I first heard Hasmik Baghdasaryan singing in an ancient pagan temple outside of Yerevan, Armenia. She was singing medieval Armenian spiritual music, and her voice was astounding. Adding to the magic was the unique acoustics of the temple. The sound haunted me for days afterward, and I became determined to write something that would use this sound in a new way.”

“I had a clear picture of the type of music I wanted to create for Hasmik's voice, but it took years to discover the right text. I spent months researching in the libraries of Yerevan, New York, and Berlin. When I finally came across a small fragment of the medieval Armenian poet Mkrtich Naghash, the words leaped off the page and into my soul. I knew I had found my text. Being in Yerevan at the time, I was able to track down the remaining 14 poems. After agonizing over which of these texts to use, I resolved that I would set all of them to music.”

“Naghash was a priest first and foremost, and his poetry was an outgrowth of his sermons. Of particular interest to me were Naghash's beautiful texts having to do with the plight of the 'Ghareeb' or exile, someone without a homeland. Being of Armenian descent and the grandson of genocide survivors, the sad state of the Ghareeb was something I can relate to. Though written in the 1500s, it is amazing how timeless Naghash's texts are in light of these troubling times.”