Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today received Modern Classics Composer Festival participants: composer Tigran Mansourian, Latvian composer Georgs Pelecis, German violinist Gidon Kremer, Chinese violinist Ning Feng, violinist Chuchan Siranossian, Latvian cellist Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė, Italian cellist Mario Brunello, French pianist Rémi Geniet, as well as the co-organizers of the festival: Artistic Director and Conductor of Armenia’s State Symphony Orchestra Sergei Smbatyan and President of the European Cultural Assistance Fund Konstantin Ishkhanov.

Addressing the guests, Prime Minister Pashinyan said: “I am pleased to greet you all in Yerevan. We attach great importance to the Modern Classics festival. For me and for our government, culture has an important role to play in terms of improving people-to-people relations and promoting education. Last year’s revolution had a well-pronounced cultural component in Armenia, since one of our government’s priorities is to bring the citizens closer to culture, that is, introduce them to culture.”

Thankful for the reception, festival co-organizer, conductor Sergei Smbatyan noted that this exceptional festival brings together great contemporary composers. It will be held November 1-9, and each of the concerts will be dedicated to one of the attending composers. The concerts will be conducted by Sergei Smbatyan, Eduard Topchyan, Carl Jenkins and Krzysztof Penderecki.

The Prime Minister and the festival participants exchanged views on the promotion of culture, classical music and arts, as well as on the development of the educational component of culture and the activities of artistic and cultural institutions.

Introducing the programs and measures envisaged by the government in the aforementioned areas, Nikol Pashinyan reiterated the importance attached to culture by his government. The festival participants praised the government’s initiative to activate cultural life and invited the Premier to attend the concerts held as part of the festival program.

Prime Minister Pashinyan wished the festival every success, thanked for the invitation and said he would be happy to attend one of the concerts.

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The Festival is co-hosted by the State Symphony Orchestra of Armenia and the European Fund for Cultural Assistance. The Festival is organized with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia.