The Armenian Communities Department has joined the summer festivities of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation “Jardim de Verão” for the second year in a row by organizing a series of events between 1 and 9 July. Music, dance, family oriented workshops, lectures and a film premiere we will bring a glimpse of Armenian culture to the heart of Lisbon. Last year all the events were sold out and we received fantastic feedback from the public. This year we are hoping to see both new and old faces of all ages and are sure everyone will have a great time.

Below is a brief highlight of the Armenian events, further information (including the full programme) can be found on the “Jardim de Verão”.

 

Music in the Calouste Gulbenkian Modern Collection Museum

Trio Aeternus: Armenian music
Sat, 1 July – 15:00

Trio Aeternus is a classical piano trio formed by Alexander Stewart (violin), Varoujan Bartikian (cello), and Lucjan Luc (piano). The Trio Aeternus was formed in 2013.

 

Zulal Armenian A Cappella Trio
Sat, 1 July – 19:00

New renderings of Armenian folk melodies presented in lush three-part vocal arrangements, featuring the oud player Ara Dinkjian.

 

Singing and Storytelling in the Garden

Zulal Armenian Trio Singing and Storytelling
Sund, 2 July – 11:00 and 14:30
(Two individual sessions of 45 minutes each)

Zulal offers an experience-driven concert geared for children and families. Explore Armenian song as story and take an active part in hearing and singing harmony, identifying dynamics, adapting motion to sound, and perhaps even finding your fortune…

 

Armenian Art in the Late Ottoman Empire Lecture

Image of the Migrant Worker: The Constantinople Realists and the Bantoukhd from Ottoman Armenia Speaker Vazken Khatchig Davidian
Tue, 4 July – 19:00

This illustrated presentation considers a major preoccupation of the so-called Constantinople Armenian Realist Generation (Պոլսահայ Իրապաշտ Սերունդ) – the phenomenon of bantkhdoutioun (պանդխտութիւն), the large-scale movement of provincial migrant workers from Ottoman Armenia to the imperial capital in the late nineteenth century – by delving into the hitherto untested waters of visual art production.

 

The Armenian Community in China Lecture

Don’t Fall off the World’: The Armenian Communities in China from the 1880s to the 1950s Speaker Khatchig Mouradian
Thu, 6 July – 19:00

In this illustrated lecture, the historian Khatchig Mouradian presents the rich, yet understudied, history of the Armenian communities in China based on interviews and archival research conducted in China, Armenia, Lebanon, Europe, and the U.S.

 

Film Premier: A Night dedicated to music

My Grandfather’s Music Documentary by Eric Nazarian
Fri, 7 July – 19:00

Film premiere of the documentary “My Grandfather’s Music”, written/directed by Eric Nazarian and inspired by a journey he made to Istanbul in 2010. The film explores the oral histories of the last of the 20th century’s Armenian oud masters of the Middle East and the Diaspora in America, bridging them with the story of Cengiz Usta, a Turkish luthier in Istanbul whose oud masters were Armenian.

 

The Secret Trio (Ara Dinkjian, Tamer Pinarbasi and İsmail Lumanovski)
Fri, 7 July – 21:00
12€ – Tickets are currently being sold

The trio, with its roots in Armenian, Turkish and Macedonian Roma music, incorporates original melodies and traditional pieces with the microtonal modes of the Middle East, dance beats of the Balkans, improvisations and influences of jazz, rock, and classical music, and the music of many other traditions. The intentional exclusion of any percussion has allowed the trio members to create the illusion of a driving rhythm section by inventing ways to play percussively on musical instruments that are fundamentally melodic.

 

Closing Weekend dedicated to family workshops in the Garden

Armenian Lullabies
Sat, 8 July – 10:00
Sun, 9 July – 10:00

The workshop will introduce Armenian folk lullabies that have been transmitted from one generation to another in a range of local dialects. The collective singing workshop will awake our most intimate sense and will help us discover our natural voice and the tiny threads of human connection we weave during this night-time ritual.

The workshop facilitator is Nairi Khatchadourian.

 

Armenian Traditional Dances
Sat, 8 July – 17:00
Sun, 9 July – 17:00

This workshop presents one of the components of Armenian culture, namely traditional dances. Armenians used to dance in their casual life, during the ceremonies, events, etc. The history of Armenian traditional dances has its roots in remote past to the pre-Christian times and continued developing until recent times. Even in modern era Armenian communities preserve this tradition.

The workshop facilitator is Koriun Davtyan.