With a live music performance, UCLA’s celebration of Armenian music continues.
Acclaimed Armenian jazz pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan will perform a free public concert tomorrow at Schoenberg Hall at 7 p.m. The purpose of the event is to mark the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s establishment of the Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts and Culture. The role will be held by Melissa Bilal, who is an assistant professor in both the Department of Ethnomusicology and the Department of Music, as well as the director of the Armenian Music Program. Bilal said her various roles allow her to teach about Armenian music, conduct research, mentor graduate students, contribute to the development of curriculum and participate in the coordination of public concerts such as the one with Hamasyan.
“The one thing I’m really proud of is most of our concerts – almost all of our concerts – are also based on original research, like new repertoire,” Bilal said. “There’s scholarship behind our concerts, and concerts are generally big productions where we lead the conversation between scholarship and artistic and aesthetic projects.”
[Related: Opera ‘Schoenberg in Hollywood’ stages life of acclaimed composer, UCLA professor]
Bilal said her students love Hamasyan’s music and sometimes reference the artist’s songs and videos in assignments. Bilal worked with Hamasyan a few years ago when he was a mentor for student workshops about jazz music and musical improvisation, and she said she is excited to have him back at UCLA because of his mentorship and musical talents. The Armenian Music Program has primarily focused on Armenian classical repertoires and Armenian folk music, but Bilal said she hopes for the program to expand its exploration of jazz music. Since Hamasyan’s audience extends beyond the Armenian community, Bilal said tomorrow’s event will help bring attendees together. Eileen Strempel, the inaugural dean of the School of Music, added that Hamasyan’s music is startlingly beautiful.
Hamasyan said this is not his first time performing at UCLA and that he has appeared at various events over the course of about 15 years. Past events have allowed him to bring to life pieces ranging from Armenian liturgical music to solo piano concerts, Hamasyan added. The artist’s most recent performance in Los Angeles was about two months ago, and he said he enjoys performing in LA because of the multigenerational audiences that attend his shows. LA is one of his biggest markets and has fans who embrace the jazz, progressive rock and metal elements he explores in his music, Hamasyan added.
For Tuesday’s concert, Hamasyan said he will play multiple pieces from his solo discography, including some from his 2017 album “An Ancient Observer.” A few jazz standards and an Armenian folk song will also be woven into his set, but Hamasyan said he does not view the two differently and instead considers both timeless melodies. He said one jazz standard he is planning to play is the 1956 tune “Lady Sings The Blues” written by Billie Holiday and Herbie Nichols. Despite having a framework of what music he will play, Hamasyan said he will keep space to try to improvise portions of the concert.
“The reason I chose to … play jazz is because I really love improvising since I was a toddler,” Hamasyan said. “The idea of creating on the spot, this sensation, it was always something that I love doing. … I spent all my life getting better at improvising, and I will do so until the end of my life.”
While Hamasyan’s music has roots in Armenian folk music, he said some of his compositions are unrelated to this musical tradition. He said his personal approach to Armenian folk music is most important, and he thinks of the melodies he creates as 21st-century interpretations of Armenian folk songs. According to Hamasyan, the goal of his music is to provide audiences with a spiritual experience that contains a journey into something mysterious while disconnecting from the material world. He said it is equally valuable for this reaction and moment of awakening in listeners to be provoked by Armenian folk music or jazz standards.
[Related: Asian and Pacific Islander film night shows short films from UCLA students, alumni]
Later this week, Hamasyan will perform in Italy and Luxembourg. He said being a traveling musician is difficult, and he adopts a monk-like attitude with a structured routine and consistent sleep to make being on the road more manageable. Other upcoming projects include the development of a new album, which Hamasyan said will reflect where he currently is as an artist while incorporating and blending pieces of music he has written over the past decade. He said singles for the new album can be expected in fall.
Hamasyan’s combination of creative musical expression with scholarly study of Armenian repertoires is inspiring, Bilal said, and resonates with both the Armenian community and broader audiences. She said the goal of the Armenian Music Program is to create a diverse community on campus, which has been accomplished by integrating students regardless of their previous familiarity with Armenian music.
“Our program brings people together,” Bilal said. “It creates a community of diverse backgrounds across disciplines to enjoy and appreciate Armenian music and dance and to practice it together, to keep it alive.”
Comments are closed.