News

By Barlow Der Mugrdechian Volume five of the six volume series The Music of Armenia has recently been released by Celestial Harmonies. Composer David Parsons has continued his exploration into the sacred and folk traditions of Eastern Armenians with this double CD devoted to the folk music of Armenia. In this latest production, listeners enjoy the traditional music of Armenia: ...

Staff Report CSU Fresno President Dr. John Welty hosted a reception for a group of academics and professors from Armenia at the University Home on Wednesday, January 22.As part of the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Assistance Project, a fifteen person group from Armenia arrived January 16 for a two week program at California State University, Fresno. The ...

Within a week during the last days of February and the first days of March death came to Isabel Berberian and Melin* Kalfayan. Their names were familiar to hundreds of students and supporters of the Armenian Studies Program. The first endowed chair in Armenian Studies and the first chair to become operative on the campus of California State University, Fresno ...

by Dickran Kouymjian What was it like to teach at Berkeley? I have been asked that many times since returning to Fresno. Not much different than teaching at Fresno State. The best students in my classes at the University of California were about the same as the best students at Fresno State, except that there were proportionately more of them ...

Staff Report Born into a musical family in Yerevan, Armenia , Vardan Mamikonian began studying the piano at the age of seven and quickly showed exceptional talent. After completing studies in Armenia, Mamikonian continued at the Moscow Conservatory for two years and then moved on to the prestigious Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he became a pupil of Valery Kastelsky, himself the ...

By Dickran Kouymjian Archbishop Vatche, Very Reverend Mushegh, Father Raphael, Reverend Minassian, Mr. Consul General and Mrs. Baibourtian, distinguished clergy and guests, ladies and gentlemen. What a wonderful occasion! Many of us have mixed memories of getting a visa for Armenia, arriving at the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco or another city to get a visa for Armenia, wondering if ...

By Jacqueline Arikian Hidden in the special collections section of the Henry Madden Library at Fresno State, exists a display of Armenians in America: Fresno as “Refuge.” It is in the side room of the fourth floor where one can walk through Little Armenia and grasp a taste of Armenian life. In this exhibit lies the stories of those who ...

By Michael Kloster English Department, UC Berkeley On November 15th an international conference “Saroyan Plus Fifteen” was held on the University of California, Berkeley campus to commemorate the work and life of William Saroyan. The gathering was jointly sponsored by the newly established William Saroyan Chair of Armenian Studies, the English Department, the Center for Slavic and East European Studies, ...

Mr. & Mrs. Gerard Y. Chamirian, Fresno CA Dr. and Mrs. Arnold Gazarian, Fresno CA John & Jane Havoonjian, Yorba Linda CA Mr. & Mrs. Shavarsh Hazarabedian, Moraga CA Mr. & Mrs. Hagop Khoubesserian, Willowdale CA Rafik Simonyan, Areni Armenia

By Barlow Der Mugrdechian Yerevan Women’s Choir of Armenia. MEG Recordings, P.O. Box 412, Cambridge, MA 02338. 69 minutes, 18 seconds. Cambridge, Massachusetts based composer and musician Dr. Ohannes Salibian has been producing a series of digitally recorded compact discs, one of the latest of which is called Yerevan Women’s Choir of Armenia.The choir is under the direction of Artur ...