Komitas @ 150 Event Series

Centuries-old oral traditions create a rich tapestry of the human experience. One of the pioneers of ethnomusicology, Komitas Vartabed (Kütahya, 1869 – Paris, 1935) devoted his life to collecting and spreading Armenian folk and sacred musical traditions. He travelled to remote regions of Armenia, participating in local ceremonies and feasts and observing everyday activity and labour, ultimately collecting over 4,000 pieces of folk music. Komitas approached music as a social process and practice, a human activity, shaped by its environment and cultural context.

Sketch by Komitas Vardapet.

Nairi Khachadourian will share her research about Komitas, his career and complex personality, highlighting his humour and jokes as depicted in correspondence and memoirs. The evening will end by learning and singing a traditional Armenian song from those gathered by Komitas. 

Admission: £5 to include a wine reception.

Nairi Khatchadourian

Nairi Khatchadourian, until recently Head of Exhibitions and Education at the Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan. is a curator, educator and artist born in Paris, France.  She researches a range of ethnographic contexts and music history and their many contemporary resonances. Nairi leads educational workshops in Europe and the Middle East and her “lullabies singing workshop” was selected among the five “Best Practice” museum education programmes in 2016 by the International Council of Museums. For the 150th anniversary of Komitas’s birth, Nairi curated the exhibition “Pieces” at the Komitas Museum and the open-air poster exhibition “The Future Thinker” in the Komitas Park.