INSTRUMENTAL TRIO SHINES AT CATHEDRAL CONCERT

On Sunday, February 22nd, St. Illuminator’s hosted a special concert of instrumental music presented by Harout Barsoumian on guitar and duduk, joined by Shant Tanielian on violin and Alicia Keoshgerian on kanon. His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, presided over the event. 

Archpriest Fr. Mesrob Lakissian, Pastor, introduced the trio, beginning with a special appreciation of Harout Barsoumian as a co-founder and artistic director of the Huyser Ensemble. The trio is a project of the Huyser Ensemble, of which Shant and Alicia are the newest members. 

The program included works by Komitas, Arno Babajanian, and Charles Aznavour, familiar songs from the Armenian songbook, and a piece by Ara Dinkjian, most of which were arranged for the trio by Harout Barsoumian, along with one of his original compositions entitled “You.” The trio also premiered his arrangement of Magar Yegmalian’s Amen Hayr Soorp. The performances often inspired the parishioners to join the instrumentalists in song.

The afternoon closed with brief remarks by Archbishop Anoushavan in which he expressed his deep appreciation for the trio’s outstanding talent and encouraged Harout Barsoumian to expand his repertoire of sacred music with arrangements of additional Sharagans.