Under the high auspices of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, the Shnorhali Choir of the Catholicosate, conducted by Rev. Fr. Zaven Najarian celebrated its 50th anniversary with an unforgettable concert on Saturday, February 17, at the Émile Lahoud Hall in Dbayeh, Lebanon.
The jubilee concert was scheduled for last year but was postponed following the painful developments in Artsakh.
The choir opened the event interpreting the Lord’s Prayer in a beautiful arrangement by Archbishop Zareh Aznavorian, of blessed memory, The choir presented a program that included several other works arranged or written by Archbishop Aznavorian; Bishop Meghrig Parikian, of blessed memory; Bishop Torkom Donoyan, and Zakar Keshishian. Hampig Mardirossian accompanied on the piano.
In closing remarks, His Holiness praised the achievements of the choir.
“We are before a mission accomplished over fifty years,” the Catholicos said. “What you saw and listened to was, in the truest sense of the word, a mission.” This mission, he added, “was fulfilled on the initiative and with the sponsorship of the Great House of Cilicia.”
