LORA SARI

Tigran Hamasyan begun his tour with the Yerevan State Chamber Choir led by conductor Harutyun Topikyan titled ‘Luys i Luso (Light of Light)’, blending Armenian Churh Music with jazz, in June. Within the scope of this tour, Hamasyan has given concerts at Ani and Akhtamar, and will come to Istanbul after giving concerts in Diyarbakır, Kayseri and Vakıflı.

Known as the greatest living Armenian composer, Tigran Mansurian was in Istanbul for a special occasion. Although I was initially overwhelmed by his presence, thanks to his kindness and sincerity, our interview soon turned into a sweet conversation.

The harvest of the Anatolian travels photographer Norair Chahinian has carried out since 2012 have now been brought together in book form under the title ‘The Power of Emptiness’. Emptiness may be powerful in all its forms, however the emptiness of Anatolia has an added layer of confusion to it: If houses, ruins, mosques converted from churches, people and bones are still there, what is this huge emptiness before our eyes? Or perhaps we should turn our gaze to the last words of the text Baron Sarkis Seropyan wrote for this book: “Today, the Silk Road, Ani, monasteries, churches, and even the houses and rooms lie empty, all over, all across the land… I wonder why.”

The exhibition titled ‘Spectography: Tracing the Ghosts’ opened at Depo on March 14, and Arménouhie Kévonian’s book ‘Gülizar’s Black Wedding’, published by the Aras Publishing House in Turkish, was also launched during the opening. The exhibition features the photographs and videos of three Swiss artists, Anna Barsaghian, Stefan Kristensen and Uriel Orlow, produced during their travels across Anatolia.

‘1915’, a US-produced psychological thriller about the Genocide, will be released across the USA on April 22. Co-written and co-directed by Garin Hovannisian and Alec Mouhibian, the film features Simon Abkarian, Angela Sarafyan, Sam Page, Nikolai Kinski and Jim Piddock in its leading roles.

Two theatres founded in Eastern Berlin in the middle of the last century turned Berlin into the centre of political theatre in Europe. The Maxim Gorki Theatre, having shed nothing of its power in the last century, is still one of the most important representatives of political theatre, and has dedicated a broad two-month program to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

We spoke about Turks, Armenians, Turkey and the Diaspora with Arsinée Khanjian, the Canadian actress who is one of the three jury members of the international ‘Love & Change’ competition of the 14th !f International Film Festival.

We interviewed historian and politician Gerard J. Libaridian, who participated in the Sealed Gate Conference organized by the Hrant Dink Foundation, and as its 100th anniversary approaches, talked about the Genocide.