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Tekeyan London
www.tekeyan.org.uk
www.facebook.com/TekeyanLondon
Ani Batikian Violin Concert in celebration of the great composer Aram
Khachaturian's 111th Anniversary, St John's Smith Square, London
6th September 2014
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On Saturday 6th September 2014, the famous concert venue of St John's Smith
Square in London opened its Autumn Season of music with a concert by the
brilliant Armenian violinist Ani Batikian, accompanied by the
internationally-acclaimed British pianist Benjamin Frith to an audience of
nearly 300 members of the public, VIPs and dignitaries.
The programme of music included a varied and challenging repertoire of
much-loved works arranged for the violin and piano, including pieces by the
great Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian such as the "Sabre Dance" from
the ballet `Gayaneh' arranged by Heifetz and the "Adagio and Bacchanal"
from the ballet "Spartacus" arranged by Baich, a fitting celebration of the
composer's 111th anniversary. The programme also included works by Debussy,
Brahms, Saint-Saens, Chopin and Baghdasarian. The last piece performed was
written by the composer Roland Roberts, Ani Batikian's husband, who has
transformed the Armenian National Anthem "Our Motherland" into a
composition in the nineteenth-century virtuoso style of Paganini for the
violin and piano. The entire programme was designed to display the
remarkable range of skills and abilities Ani has on the violin.
The special surprise of the evening was the announcement that the violin
Ani was playing on was a Stradivarius borrowed from Sotheby's, one that had
been locked away for nearly 70 years and which used to belong to Alfonso
Marconi, the brother of none other than the great scientist Guglielmo
Marconi, the inventor of the radio. A few days earlier, Ani and Roland had
also been invited to the well-known and respected BBC Radio 3 programme "In
Tune," to play a selection of violin and piano pieces in anticipation of
the concert.
Ani has received numerous awards and prizes and has also been broadcast on
BBC Scotland Radio. She has performed as a soloist in Canada, Switzerland,
France, Italy, Sweden, Armenia and the UK. She has played concerts at such
recognised venues as Edinburgh's Usher Hall, Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre,
the Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London.
Recently she recorded a CD, entitled "My Favourite Encores." The concert
violinist Pierre Amoyal has observed that, "Ani controls the violin with a
very strong technique, possesses a very beautiful tone and expresses her
music with a very good sense of style and personal sensitivity."
The Tekeyan Cultural Association (TCA) of London sponsored and promoted the
event in association with the Armenian Embassy to the UK. The TCA is an
organisation which helps bridge the communities of the Armenian Diaspora
with one another and with the Republic of Armenia, to introduce and promote
the very best of Armenian Arts, Music and Culture to a wider audience.
Tekeyan London
www.tekeyan.org.uk
www.facebook.com/TekeyanLondon
Ani Batikian Violin Concert in celebration of the great composer Aram
Khachaturian's 111th Anniversary, St John's Smith Square, London
6th September 2014
--------
On Saturday 6th September 2014, the famous concert venue of St John's Smith
Square in London opened its Autumn Season of music with a concert by the
brilliant Armenian violinist Ani Batikian, accompanied by the
internationally-acclaimed British pianist Benjamin Frith to an audience of
nearly 300 members of the public, VIPs and dignitaries.
The programme of music included a varied and challenging repertoire of
much-loved works arranged for the violin and piano, including pieces by the
great Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian such as the "Sabre Dance" from
the ballet `Gayaneh' arranged by Heifetz and the "Adagio and Bacchanal"
from the ballet "Spartacus" arranged by Baich, a fitting celebration of the
composer's 111th anniversary. The programme also included works by Debussy,
Brahms, Saint-Saens, Chopin and Baghdasarian. The last piece performed was
written by the composer Roland Roberts, Ani Batikian's husband, who has
transformed the Armenian National Anthem "Our Motherland" into a
composition in the nineteenth-century virtuoso style of Paganini for the
violin and piano. The entire programme was designed to display the
remarkable range of skills and abilities Ani has on the violin.
The special surprise of the evening was the announcement that the violin
Ani was playing on was a Stradivarius borrowed from Sotheby's, one that had
been locked away for nearly 70 years and which used to belong to Alfonso
Marconi, the brother of none other than the great scientist Guglielmo
Marconi, the inventor of the radio. A few days earlier, Ani and Roland had
also been invited to the well-known and respected BBC Radio 3 programme "In
Tune," to play a selection of violin and piano pieces in anticipation of
the concert.
Ani has received numerous awards and prizes and has also been broadcast on
BBC Scotland Radio. She has performed as a soloist in Canada, Switzerland,
France, Italy, Sweden, Armenia and the UK. She has played concerts at such
recognised venues as Edinburgh's Usher Hall, Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre,
the Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London.
Recently she recorded a CD, entitled "My Favourite Encores." The concert
violinist Pierre Amoyal has observed that, "Ani controls the violin with a
very strong technique, possesses a very beautiful tone and expresses her
music with a very good sense of style and personal sensitivity."
The Tekeyan Cultural Association (TCA) of London sponsored and promoted the
event in association with the Armenian Embassy to the UK. The TCA is an
organisation which helps bridge the communities of the Armenian Diaspora
with one another and with the Republic of Armenia, to introduce and promote
the very best of Armenian Arts, Music and Culture to a wider audience.