The European Foundation for Support of Culture, together with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, hosted the "Contemporary Classics" Composers' Festival from 1 to 9 November in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. Discerning Armenian audiences had the unique opportunity not only to hear the works of such celebrated composers as Krzysztof Penderecki (Poland, 1933), Giya Kancheli (Georgia, 1935-2019), Arvo Pärt (Estonia, 1935), Tigran Mansurian (Armenia, 1939), Karl Jenkins (United Kingdom, 1944), Alexander Tchaikovsky (Russia, 1946), Georgs Pelēcis (Latvia, 1947), Qigang Chen (China, 1951) and Alexey Shor (Malta/United States, 1970), but also to see most of the great musicians at their concerts. The legendary musicians came from all over the world to take part in the Festival.
Concerts within the project were held in one of Yerevan’s best venues, the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall. The Armenian State Symphony Orchestra performed on stage under the baton of the Honoured Artist of the Republic of Armenia, founder and Artistic Director of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra Sergey Smbatyan, as was the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of the Honoured Art Worker of Armenia, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra Eduard Topchjan.
Soloists included such renowned musicians as violist and conductor Yuri Bashmet (Russia), who is also Artistic Director, Conductor and soloist of the Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, founder and jury chairman of Russia’s first and only International Viola Competition in Moscow, Professor at the Moscow Conservatory; cellist and winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition Mario Brunello (Italy); violinist and winner of many international competitions Chouchane Siranossian (France); violinist and winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition Ning Feng (China); pianist and winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition Rémi Geniet (France); winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition for violinists and founder of the Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra Gidon Kremer (Latvia/Germany); Grammy nominated cellist Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė (Latvia); professor of violin at Seoul National University and winner of the Indianapolis, Paganini, Sibelius, Long-Thibaud-Crespin and Queen Elisabeth international competitions Ju-Young Baek (South Korea); Deutsche Grammophon artist, pianist Ingolf Wunder (Austria); cellist and Queen Elisabeth Competition winner Victor Julien-Laferrière (France); winner of the Busoni piano competition Roberto Cominati (Italy); winner of the Premio Pecar International Piano Competition in Gorizia Costanza Principe (Italy); soloist of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, oboist Petr Lis (Poland); pianist, Honoured Artist of Russia and winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition Boris Berezovsky (Russia); winner of the Premio Pecar International Piano Competition in Gorizia Darya Tchaikovskaya (Germany); and People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, composer, pianist, Professor at the Moscow Conservatory and Artistic Director of the Moscow Philharmonic Alexander Tchaikovsky(Russia); and many more.
The musicians performed the most famous and popular works by great contemporary composers who honoured the performances with their presence at the Festival.