MUSICAL ARMENIA ALUMNUS CONDUCTS KHATCHATURIAN AT MERKIN HALL

Karén Hakobyan, a distinguished alumnus of Musical Armenia, will conduct Khatchaturian and other composers on Saturday, April 13, at Merkin Concert Hall in the 2023-2024. He is the founder, principal conductor, and artistic director of Pegasus: The Orchestra.   

Hakobyan, who performed in Musical Armenia’s 2011, 2013, and 2017 editions, will thus pay tribute to the great Armenian composer Aram Khatchaturian on the 120th anniversary of his birth.  

The program opens with Stravinsky’s stunning 8-movement Suite from the Pulcinella Ballet highlighting Pegasus’s principals as soloists. The first half concludes with Tchaikovsky’s delightful Variations on a Rococo Theme and features 2007 Tchaikovsky International Competition gold medalist Sergey Antonov (cello) as the soloist.  

The second half opens with Beethoven’s colossal Symphony No. 7 and culminates with Khatchaturian’s Waltz from the “Masquerade” Suite, a fitting conclusion to the season.