About the Festival

In August 2022, the inaugural edition of the Symphonic Yerevan International Music Festival will land in Armenia, organised by the European Foundation for Support of Culture, in collaboration with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, and in partnership with the Armenian State Philharmonia and Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall, the Municipality of Yerevan and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia.

Commencing on the 12^th of August, and running until the 25th of the month, this festival will see some of the most acclaimed musicians and conductors of our time performing in the Armenian capital over the course of fourteen days, with the festival presenting a mixture of recitals as well as chamber and symphonic concerts in some of the city’s most celebrated venues, including the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, the Komitas Museum-Institute and the Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall.

Featuring a number of performances by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, who will be taking on the role of Orchestra-in-Residence for this first edition, Symphonic Yerevan will also witness appearances by a host of leading international soloists, including pianists Saleem Ashkar (Israel/Palestine), Sona Barseghyan (Armenia), Vanessa Benelli Mosell (Italy), Anahit Dilbaryan (Armenia), Nikita Mndoyants (Russia) and Armine Grigoryan (Armenia); violinists Giovanni Andrea Zanon (Italy), Marc Bouchkov (Belgium) and Nancy Zhou (China/USA); cellists Sevak Avanesyan (Armenia) and Brannon Cho (USA); flautists Gevorg Avetisyan (Armenia) and Noemi Gyori (Hungary); clarinettist Fabrizio Meloni (Italy); guitarist Xuefei Yang (China), and bassoonist Nikolay Poghosyan (Armenia). In addition, the festival shall also see the presence of the famed Armenian ensemble, the Aram Khachaturian Trio.

Throughout the duration of the festival, the ASSO shall be teaming up with various distinguished conductors from around the world, with Dutch conductor Daniel Raiskin, Hungarian conductor Gergely Madaras and Armenian conductor Sergey Smbatyan, the Founder, Artistic Director, and Principal Conductor of the ASSO, each set to lead the orchestra at different points of the festival.

Across Symphonic Yerevan’s fourteen concerts, audiences will be able to enjoy music from a variety of seminal composers from Armenia, the wider European region, and beyond, with the concert programmes specially selected to feature works from historic greats alongside contemporary offerings from some of the most renowned composers of our own age, including various pieces from the pen of Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor.