The Naghash Ensemble: Transcendent Armenian Classical Music | Music Interview 2023

Our co-founder, Darek Mazzone, spoke to John Hodian, the composer behind the Armenian Ensemble, Nagahash. We at SAMA love Armenian classical music. The range and emotional power of the form creates a transcendent state in the listener.

John Hodian is an Armenian-American composer who is known for creating and leading The Naghash Ensemble. The ensemble is a group of Armenian musicians and singers who perform classical Armenian music, specifically the poetry of the medieval Armenian poet Mkrtich Naghash. Hodian was inspired to form the ensemble after hearing the voice of Hasmik Baghdasaryan singing medieval Armenian spiritual music in an ancient pagan temple outside of Yerevan, Armenia.

The band is starting their US/European Tour in March of 2023

The Naghash Ensemble's Members
Hasmik Baghdasaryan • soprano
Tatevik Movsesyan • soprano
Arpine Ter-Petrosyan • alto
Harutyun Chkolyan • duduk
Emmanuel Hovhannisyan • duduk
Aramayis Nikoghosyan • oud
Tigran Hovhannisyan • dhol
John Hodian • piano/composer

John's BIO:
John Hodian is a composer, conductor, and pianist who has worked in a wide variety of idioms—from classical to jazz, and traditional to avant-garde theater. The soulful intensity and intricate rhythms of his music reflect both his Armenian roots and his formal classical training.
Hodian received Masters degrees in composition and conducting at The Philadelphia College for the Performing Arts. John also spent several summers at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado where he studied piano and improvisation with Art Lande, Ralph Towner as well as literature and poetry with Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs.
While teaching composition and music theory at the University of the Arts, John was conductor of the Philadelphia New Music Ensemble.
John has collaborated with leading theater figures such as Anne Bogart and Israel Horowitz and is the founder of “The Naghash Ensemble” and “Epiphany Project”.

About SAMA:
Seattle Sacred Music & Art (SAMA) curates, produces, and collaborates on an immersive series of music and art performances that share the healing power of global sacred music. New videos presented every Thursday. We are dedicated to share with you the best and most compelling artists in the world.

SAMA was launched in 2019 as a way to foster understanding and dialogue through global music during a time of extreme political and cultural polarization. Co-founders Darek Mazzone and John M. Goodfellow, both long-time Seattle residents, have created SAMA in order to help expand global sacred music’s impact on the human spirit.

“We want to open people’s hearts,” says Mazzone, a KEXP DJ and Polish immigrant who moved to the US as a child, “that’s what imbues our sense of humanity.” SAMA aims to help bring as many outstanding international artists to the Pacific Northwest to perform as possible as life resumes in public spaces. Through musical performances, global artists have the power to challenge out preconceived notions of what “the other” thinks and feels.

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Thanks for watching the video: The Naghash Ensemble: Transcendent Armenian Classical Music | Music Interview 2023 on SAMA: Seattle Sacred Music and Art.