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Composer Arpine Kalinina’s works “April 24” and “Serenade” for string quartet have been recently published in Yerevan by Printograf Publishing House, thanks to the initiative of the Armenian Musical Assembly.
“April 24” was written to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and premiered in London in 2015 by the British Artesian Quartet on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day—April 24—at the Royal Academy of Music. The composition is inspired by a pagan poem dedicated to Vahagn the Dragon-Reaper (the Armenian pre-Christian god of war, bravery, the sun, thunder, and fire) as an expression of hope for rebirth.
“Serenade” was written for the Bartók World Competition for Composers (Hungary) in 2020 and was selected as a finalist out of 348 compositions representing 59 countries, ranking among the top eight compositions in the final round.
The front cover of Arpine Kalinina’s published score features a fragment of “Lotus” by Martiros Saryan, with cover design by Aram Urutyan and editing by Vahram Babayan. The back cover includes a portrait of the composer taken by Maria Vartanova.
Notably, before publication, both compositions were performed in Shanghai, China, as part of a contemporary music concert. China’s largest classical music journal, Music Weekly, featured an article about the concert and Arpine’s compositions.
The performances took place under the “Spring Bird” project at the TRI第三空间 chamber music hall, performed by soloists of the Novus-Classica Camerata. The ensemble’s founder, conductor, and concert initiator is the young Chinese conductor Jin YuKuang.
Arpine Kalinina dedicated the Chinese premieres of these works to the memory of her teacher, composer Levon Chaushyan, as noted in the concert programme.
