Join us Sunday, April 11 at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST and 11:00 pm in Armenia) for the fourth of our bimonthly Online Concert Series featuring the Nairyan Vocal Ensemble, an all-female vocal ensemble focused on classical and spiritual music. This performance was recorded exclusively for the Armenian Museum of America. 

This concert series is supported by a generous grant from the Dadourian Foundation and it is curated for the Armenian Museum by Maestro Konstantin Petrossian, artistic director, composer, and conductor. It is free, open to the public, pre-registration is not required, and the video will be made available the day of the concert on the Museum’s website, YouTube Channel, and social media pages including Facebook.

About the performers:

Nairyan Vocal Ensemble was created in 2015 as a program of the Mughdusyan Art Center. The goal was to popularize Armenian composers, spread classic and spiritual music, and to help empower women. The ensemble consists of five young women with professional music training. They sing polyphonic songs, mainly in acapella, and some of the songs are performed with clarinet, tambourine, and other instruments. 

The ensemble has performed at more than 100 events and venues, from museums in Yerevan to spiritual centers, retirement homes, and penitentiaries. Their aim has been to make music available, especially in places where classical music is not usually performed or heard. 

In 2018, the ensemble began translating and performing songs in sign language. The Nairyan Vocal Ensemble is the only ensemble in the region that performs acapella and sign language simultaneously, which makes their music available for people with hearing difficulties. By 2019, the ensemble had translated 32 songs by Armenian composers into sign language. 

The artistic director of the Nairyan Vocal Ensemble is Naira Mughdusyan and the other singers are Yelena Azaryan, Ani Ghazaryan, Anush Hambardzumyan, and Anna Minasyan.