The Armenian Prelacy’s
2006 Musical Armenia Concert at Carnegie Hall
The 2006 edition of Musical Armenia, the Armenian Prelacy’s annual concert featuring young Armenian artists, will present the a capella folk trio Zulal and the piano duo Duo Maestoso. The concert will take place on Sunday, February 26, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York City.

The Musical Armenia program was created by Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian and the Prelacy Ladies Guild in 1982. With this year’s event, the twenty-third concert in the series, the program continues its efforts to help the artistic development and promote the visibility of emerging Armenian performers.

Zulal (which means clarity) is comprised of Teni Apelian, Yeraz Markarian, and Anaïs Tekerian.

The group’s arrangements, written in an organic style, pay tribute to Armenia’s folk roots and feature imaginative harmonies that add fresh energy to the traditional repertoire. Formed in 2002, Zulal was created when the members began exploring their shared love of a capella singing and their affinity for the textures of Armenian folk music.

In the past four years, Zulal’s diverse achievements include a coast-to-coast United States tour, a performance with Cirque du Soleil, nomination in the “Best Folk/World Album” category at the 2005 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, and recognition with “Best Newcomer’ and “Best Vocal Traditional Album” awards at the 2005 Armenian Music Awards. The group’s performance venues include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, New York's City Hall, the Museum of the City of New York, and the Tsai Performance Center at Boston University.

Philadelphia native Teni Apelian graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a bachelors degree in professional writing and a masters in arts management. Her affinity for a capella singing grew out of her work in a jazz choir at CMU. Ms. Apelian has lived in various parts of the East Coast and now resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She feels that Zulal has brought life to her foremost passions and allowed her to explore both spirit and sound with two talented women.

Yeraz Markarian has enjoyed singing from a young age and was a “bass” in an all-female a cappella group while she was a student at Columbia University’s Barnard College. A native New Yorker, Ms. Markarian has a background in advertising and currently works in cancer research. She is also a masters degree student in psychology. Ms. Markarian is proud of her contribution in interpreting Armenian folk music and is overjoyed that an informal conversation among friends about folk music led to the creation of Zulal.

Anaïs Tekerian studied theatre at Yale University, where she sang with and directed the Yale Slavic Chorus. Originally from San Francisco, Ms. Tekerian now lives in New York City. She performs in plays and films in and around New York and is also active as a poet and piano teacher. Ms. Tekerian is thrilled to be exploring the musical heritage of her ancestors through Zulal.
The sister-and-brother combination of Gianeh and Ovanes Arakelyan comprises Duo Maestoso. At the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, the Duo earned bachelor of music degrees in piano performance under the direction of Professor Daniel Pollack. Duo Maestoso’s performances with orchestral accompaniment include concerts with the Moscow Symphony

Orchestra, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the American Youth Symphony (AYS).

In 2004, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, the Duo performed Saint-Saens’s “Carnival of the Animals” at the AYS’s 39th Gala Concert, under the direction of Alexander Treger. Also in 2004, Ms. Arakelyan and Mr. Arakelyan were each awarded gold medals at the World Championships of Performing Arts in Hollywood. In a review of a recent performance, Richard Ginell, a music critic for the Los Angeles Times, wrote: “The Arakelyans are blessed with abundant technique, and they displayed a graceful feeling for the flourishes and wit of the piano parts.”

Duo Maestoso’s other performance venues include the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, the Florence Gould Theatre at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, and the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan. In 2005, the Duo performed at the Las Vegas Music Festival and they will appear in the Las Vegas Chamber Music Concert Series during the 2005-06 season.

A compact disc by Duo Maestoso, a recording dedicated to the centenary of Aram Khachaturian, earned very favorable reviews. In summer 2004, the disc was recognized as the “compact disc of the season” by music critics in Portland, Oregon. The recording’s debut was held at the House-Museum of Aram Khachaturian in Yerevan, where the Duo had the honor to perform on the composer’s own grand piano, which had not been touched for thirty years. An upcoming compact disc will feature well-known compositions for two pianos, including Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2,” Bizet's "Los Toreadors" from “Carmen,” selections from “Carnival of the Animals,” and the “Sabre Dance” from the Khachaturian’s ballet “Gayane.”

Tickets for the Musical Armenia concert are twenty-five dollars. Further information can be obtained by contacting the Armenian Prelacy at 212-689-7810 or via e-mail at email@armenianprelacy.org.