Armenske fingeravtrykk: Mariam Kharatyan tolker pianomusikken til Komitas og Khachaturian i lys av armensk folkemusikk
“I was in search of what interpretational possibilities might emerge in works by Komitas and Khachaturian when listening to Armenian folk music and responding to it through musical expression in classical pianism?”
Mariam Kharatyan
Programkandidat, universitetslektor og konsertpianist
Disputasen blir holdt digitalt på grunn av Corona covus-19-situasjonen. Lenker til streamet presentasjon og konsert og Zoom konferanseprogram for disputas-samtalen nederst på siden.
Mariam Kharatyan disputerer med avhandlingen «Armenian Fingerprints - interpreting the piano music of Komitas and Khachaturian in light of Armenian folk music» tirsdag 28. april 2020. Disputasen vil foregå digitalt - se lenker nederst på siden.
Prosjektet er et kunstnerisk utviklingsprosjekt på doktorgradsnivå. Mariam Kharatyan er en del av stipendiatprogrammet i doktorgradsprogrammet ved Program for kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid. Prosjektet er finansiert fullt ut av programmet.
Mariam Kharatyan var den første eksternt finansierte doktorgradskandidaten ved Institutt for klassisk musikk ved UiA. I stipendiatperioden har hun spilt en rekke konserter på topp-nivå – blant annet har hun ved to anledninger spilt i den internasjonale Grieg-konkurransen på Troldhaugen i Bergen, der hun kom til semi-finale.
Se også «Utforsker essensen av folkemusikk».
Mariam Kharatyan, piano - en introduksjon til artisten
Armenian pianist Mariam Kharatyan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician.
She has her musical background as a classical pianist and completed her Master's degree at the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia.
From 2012 she moved to Norway and completed the Master program of Western Classical Music at the University of Agder. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Music and Music Education (Institutt for Klassisk Musikk og Musikkpedagogikk) at the University of Agder.
Kharatyan has been a soloist with Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Norway, Torun Symphony Orchestra with Anna Duczmal-Mroz, Poland and String Orchestra of Sarajevo Music Academy with Tijana Vignevic, Bosnia Hercegovina.
She is a prize winner in several international piano competitions such as “Giovanni Musicisti” (1st Prize, 2013) in Treviso, Italy, Grieg International Piano Competition in Bergen (Semifinalist, 2016), and in the “Renaissance” International contest-festival in Gyumri, Armenia, in 2010.
Kharatyan had masterclasses with Leif Ove Andsnes, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, Marianna Shirinyan, and Jan Jiracek von Arnim, among others. She has performed in Kilden Teater og Konserthus in Kristiansand, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Leshowitz Recital Hall in Montclair, New Jersey, Khachaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan, also in Sweden, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Belarus, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Lithuania.
From 2015-2019 she has worked on the project Armenian Fingerprints - interpreting the piano music of Komitas and Khachaturian in light of Armenian folk music, admitted in Norwegian Artistic Research Programme. In 2019 she has released two albums with SImax Classics - Khachaturian, Chamber Music, and Komitas, Shoror.
Slik oppsummerer Mariam Kharatyan selv avhandlingen:
Armenian Fingerprints
Throughout this artistic research project, I have aimed to find my own way of interpreting several major piano compositions written by the Armenian composers Komitas (1869-1935) and Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978). My approach to interpretation has been connected to my inspiration and interest in Armenian folk music, leading to a desire to explore in-depth the impact of the interplay between classical and folk music in my playing.
I was in search of what interpretational possibilities might emerge in works by Komitas and Khachaturian when listening to Armenian folk music and responding to it through musical expression in classical pianism?
My response from folk to classical aesthetics has recreated my imagination and inner perception of folk music into timbres on the piano. I have aimed to refine this imagination of the folk instruments and folk music aesthetics and integrate it in my piano playing, intended to unfold new perspectives to the established approaches of interpretation.
At the Crossroads of Classical and Folk
On the album Shoror, the music of Komitas is interpreted at the crossroads of Armenian folk music traditions and European classical style. In selected folk songs of Komitas, I had Vigen Balasanyan - one of the finest folk musicians from Armenia, playing on traditional instruments duduk and blul. Playing on grand piano together with ancient Armenian folk instruments, created a soundscape that re-evokes the folk sonority and expression of the music.
Besides collecting and arranging Armenian Peasant Songs, Komitas has been also focused in particular on the instrumental music that was played during folk dances, creating his famous Yot Par and Msho Shoror for piano. The roots of each dance-melody are from a particular region of Armenia and is marked by Komitas in style of folk instruments/ensemble of folk instruments. The Yot Par and Msho Shoror has been in my focus during the whole project, exploring the aesthetics of the folk music and traditional instruments, through articulation, timbre, timing and pedalling on piano.
The album Komitas, Shoror is presented by Simax Classics
Inspired by Folk Troubadours - Ashugh's Art
On the album Khachaturian, Chamber Music, interpreted composer's music written as early as 1926, and also the neglected violin sonata, written in 1932, but published only in 1984. One of the cores in my explorations on aesthetics of Armenian folk music and the interplay of it in my piano playing has been the improvisational free timing of folk troubadours - Ashugh’s Art. Together with violinist Adam Grüchot, clarinetist Stig Nordhagen and cellist Leonardo Sesenna, we have aimed to create a meaningful musical expression for the listener, as the music comes forth more like an improvisation, as without bar lines, with the freedom and improvisational sense of the performance which would give the impression of as performers playing by ear, rather than by learning.
The album Khachaturian, Chamber Music is presented by Simax Classics
The album is also on Spotify
Khachaturian's Piano Concerto with KSO in Kilden
One of the artistic results of the project has been the performance of Khachaturian's piano concerto that took place in Kilden Teater and Konserthus, in collaboration with Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eivind Gullberg Jensen.
This concert has been live recorded and is available to listen in YouTube.
Reflections
Armenian Fingerprints are published in the Research Catalogue, which is an International Database for Artistic Research.
International Reviews
The two albums of the project Armenian Fingerprints - Komitas, Shoror and Khachaturian, Chamber Music, already have received international reviews in German online magazine "The New Listener".
Disputasfakta
Ettersom disputasen foregår innenfor «Program for kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid», er det litt andre prosedyrer enn ved ordinære disputaser. Her foregår disputasen som en samtale mellom kandidat og komité, moderert av disputasleder Marit Wergeland-Yates.
Kandidaten: Mariam Kharatyan, (1987, Yerevan, Armenia) arbeider nå i fast stilling som universitetslektor i piano-akkompagnement ved Institutt for klassisk musikk og musikkpedagogikk ved Universitetet i Agder.
- Bachelor's Degree (2005-2010) in Musicology, Instrumental performance - piano, Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia.
- Master's Degree (2010-2011) in Musical Art, Instrumental performance - piano, Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia.
- Master's Programme (2012-2014) in Music Performance - Western Classical Music, (Master i utøvende musikk, med fordypning i klassisk - klaver), Department of Classical Music and Music Education at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
Disputasen finner sted kl. 10.00-13.30 digitalt / i Sal 1, Sigurd Køhns hus - bygg K, Campus Kristiansand tirsdag 28. april 2020.
Disputasen blir ledet av dekan Marit Wergeland-Yates, Fakultet for kunstfag.
Presentasjon: 10:00 - 11:00
Dialog: 11:30 - 13:30
Tittel på kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid: «Armenian Fingerprints - interpreting the piano music of Komitas and Khachaturian in light of Armenian folk music»
Doktorgradskomiteen består av:
- Professor Bjørn Ole Rasch, Universitetet i Agder (komitéleder)
- Professor Marianna Shirinyan, Norges musikkhøgskole
- Professor emeritus Bjørn Kruse, Norges musikkhøgskole
Veiledere i doktorgradsarbeidet var professor emeritus Per Kjetil Farstad, UiA (hovedveileder) og ph.d. i ar in Artistic Research, Ingfrid Breie Nyhus, Norges musikkhøgskole (medveileder)
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