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The Pan-Armenian Orchestra, headed by Sergey Smbatyan, performed at the most prestigious Gramophone Classical Music Awards

On September 13 the Pan-Armenian Symphony Orchestra, headed by conductor Sergey Smbatyan, performed at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2017, the most famous and prestigious event. The glittering event took place in the stunning venue of Northumberland Avenue, London. During the concert the Pan-Armenian Orchestra presented compositions by Khachaturian, Shostakovich, Shor, Prokofiev and other composers. The performances of the orchestra and Sergey Smbatyan were warmly received.

The Pan-Armenian Orchestra was joined with some of the biggest names in classical music as Gramophone Award winners past and present take to the stage to celebrate the 40th anniversary of these prestigious awards. In previous years, Gramophone Awards ceremonies were conducted by famous conductors like Sir Colin Davis, Sir Antonio Pappano and others. This year’s honor was reserved for maestro Sergey Smbatyan, who studied with Sir Colin Davis in London.

For the second year running, the ceremony was live-streamed on medici.tv, so classical music lovers from all around the globe had the opportunity to watch all of the performances, acceptance speeches.
James Jolly, Gramophone’s Editor-in-Chief, noted that they were delighted to be joined by the Pan-Armenian Symphony orchestra, comprised of the Armenian musicians from the best orchestras all over the world. During the evening Jolly thanked Sergey Smbatyan and the Pan-Armenian Orchestra for performing composition by British composer Gustav Holst.

The Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, the conductor of the Pan-Armenian Orchestra Sergey Smbatyan in an interview with medici.tv informed that the Pan-Armenian Orchestra had a concert on April 24, 2017 in Yerevan, performing headed by several conductors.
“We are very happy. It’s a great honor to be here. We have great classical music traditions in Armenia. You can find great Armenian musicians everywhere. The idea was to unite them, so they can perform together”,-Sergey Smbatyan noted.

Maestro Smbatyan added that the musicians of the Pan-Armenian Orchestra are playing at the world’s leading orchestras. They were born and raised in Armenia, studied at the same Conservatory, thus they bear the same traditions. And such projects show that the Armenians can be united. Maestro Smbatyan hoped that the orchestra will perform more often. 

Gramophone is the most significant classical music award, the same as the Oscar is in the field of cinema, the Nobel prize is in the field of science and the Booker prize in the field of literature. Gramophone Awards celebrate the very best of the last year of classical music. This year it celebrated its 40th anniversary.