Armenian church to celebrate 1,700th birthday

Michele Marr

St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church of Costa Mesa will offer devotees

of fine music and dance a rare treat Nov. 19 when they present the

Armenian Music Festival at the Robert Moore Theater, Orange Coast

College.

The festival celebrates the 1,700th anniversary of the proclamation of

Christianity in Armenia. It is the first event of its kind in Orange

County and initiates a year of cultural and religious activities

organized to mark this historic occasion, both in Armenia and throughout

the Armenian diaspora.

Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian, primate of the Armenian Church Western

Diocese, will preside over the ceremony.

“This is a way of raising the awareness of Christianity in Armenian

life,” said Father Moushegh Tashjian, pastor of St. Mary Church. “Without

our faith, we would be lost as a people. Even the first Armenian alphabet

was compiled by a group of clerics in the 5th century in order to

translate Scripture.”

St. Bartholomew and St. Thaddeus were the earliest evangelizers of

Armenia in the middle of the 1st century, but it was St. Gregory the

Illuminator who converted King Trdat of Armenia to Christianity in AD

301.

Trdat proclaimed Armenia a Christian state, making the nation the

first to become officially Christian, more than 20 years before the Roman

Empire. Gregory and Trdat built the church and shrine at Etchmiadzin that

became, and still is, the See of the Armenian Church.

“Our church has been alive for 1,700 years,” said Sylva Tashjian, who

is, with Rose Kaskavalciyan, co-chair of the festival. “We have survived

through keeping the traditions and the faith of our ancestors. We are

very proud to be the first nation to accept Christianity as the national

religion.”

The program will gather together a number of critically acclaimed

Armenian artists and musicians to perform a variety of Armenian medieval,

classical and folk music and dance, both sacred and secular.

“The festival will allow us to share some of our rich culture with the

community,” Sylva Tashjian said.

“When I tell someone I am Armenian,” Kaskavalciyan said, “they tell

me, ‘Oh, I have had your food. It is very good.’ Armenians are known for

their food. The food is good, but I want to tell them, ‘Armenians have

much more to offer than their food. We have a rich cultural heritage.’

“We are all from different backgrounds. For example, I come from

Bulgaria and my husband from Istanbul. But our church, our faith, keeps

our identity together.”

Arsen Guleserian, director of the children’s program at St. Mary

agrees.

“Where there are two or three Armenians, there will be a church. There

will be Armenia,” Guleserian said.

Among the artists on the festival program are soprano Arpine

Pehlivanian, Dame de la Grande Maison de Celicie, and her daughter,

soprano Elisabeth Pehlivanian; virtuoso violinist Haroutiune Bedelian and

his wife, pianist Lorna Bedelian; the Armenian Folk Music Ensemble with

duduk player Albert Vardanyan; the Lark Choral Group and Children’s Choir

conducted by Vatsche Barsoumian; and the Zvartnots Dance Ensemble of St.

Mary Church.

Moushegh Tashjian will contribute to the program, singing a 12th

century Easter melody, “Nor Dzaghig,” or “Bright New Flower,” by St.

Nerces Shnorhali. The song, said Tashjian, is about how “Jesus as the

bright new flower brings all of us to new life in this spiritual spring.”

The Bedelians, who live in Irvine and are members of St. Mary Church,

will perform “Poem-Sonata” by Alexander Arutiunian.

“As a performer, I feel that good quality music should be heard,”

Haroutiune Bedelian said.

An avid supporter of new music, he performed the world premiere of

“Poem-Sonata” in Paris in 1986 and premiered the work in the United

States, in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1997.

“The occasion is right for this music,” Bedelian said. “The composer,

Arutiunian, is living now in Armenia.”

Arpine Pehlivanian, long known as the ambassador of classical Armenian

music, will offer, with Elisabeth Pehlivanian, interpretations of several

classical songs written and arranged by a variety of Armenian composers.

Elisabeth Pehlivanian also will sing a 10th century, traditional chant.

“It’s our way of saying we have, for 1,700 years, survived because of

this faith,” she said.

“It will be a spiritual joy,” added Arpine. “A joy.”

The Lark Choral Group will sing hymns from the Church’s Divine

Liturgy. Albert Vardanyan, with the Armenian Folk Ensemble, will play

several Armenian folk songs, including, “Davigh,” “Im Chinari Yare” and

“Tamzara.”

Vardanyan has been playing and performing since the age of 4 and is

now a popular folk instrumentalist with movie producers and composers,

and has been sought to play soundtrack themes.

The festival will begin with the national anthems of the United States

and Armenia. It will conclude with a benediction offered by Hovsepian.

“It is time,” said Moushegh Tashjian, “for Armenia to become again,

like St. Gregory, illumination.”

FYI

WHAT: Armenian Music Festival

WHEN: 4 p.m. Nov. 19

WHERE: Robert B. Moore Theater, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview

Road, Costa Mesa

COST: $20 adults, $10 children.

CALL: (949) 650-8367