FR. BEDROS SHETILIAN CONDUCTS ARMENIA’S NATIONAL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA IN YEREVAN

Rev. Fr. Bedros Shetilian, Pastor of St. Gregory Church (Indian Orchard, MA), conducted a concert by the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia at the Komitas Auditorium in Yerevan, organized as part of the Hayahavak project.   

The orchestra interpreted folk music and religious melodies by Daniel Yerajisht (artistic name of composer Grigor Danielian), including “Art and popular dance,” “Whence do you hail?”, and “Petros of Kapan,” Mozart’s Symphony 29, and movements from Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony as well as Sargis Aslamazyan’s arrangements of folk themes according to Gomidas Vartabed’s notes.

The Hayahavak initiative of the National Center of Chamber Music promotes the performance of Armenian artists in the motherland, especially those who have had few opportunities or none to do so in the past.  

Born and educated in Aleppo, Fr. Bedros continued his musical training in Armenia at the Romans Melikyan Musical College in Yerevan, specializing in conducting, and then in St. Petersburg. He has been recognized with a medal and certificate of merit by the Cultural Foundation of Russia for his achievements as a conductor. He has also taken part in festivals in Moscow, Borgholm (Sweden), et cetera.    

More recently, Fr. Bedros conducted Mozart’s “Requiem” at the Palaces Music Festival in St. Petersburg to critical acclaim. In November 2021, he conducted the Mozart Players orchestra at St. John Smith Square in London, with a repertoire that included pieces by Mozart, Mendelsohn, and Beethoven.