News

Staff Report Sam Sarkis Kalfayan, former chairman of the Armenian Studies Program Advisory Board, died Saturday, September 6, at the age of 97. He was born Sarkis Papazian in Samson, Turkey, but escaped when he was 3 during Ottoman Turkish massacres that took the lives of his father, two brothers and two sisters. Young Mr. Kalfayan and his mother, Aghavni, ...

Staff Report Richard Darmanian, a long-time educator and Armenian community activist died June 10, at the age of 81. Mr. Darmanian was a member of the Armenian Studies Program Advisory Board and was actively involved in the Armenian Studies Program. He was a principal at Hoover and Edison high schools and for many years was director of the Armenian National ...

Staff Report Richard Elbrecht, a lawyer who photographed historic Armenian churches in Turkey, died May 26 in Fresno. He was in Fresno to meet with faculty of the Armenian Studies Program about creating a Web page for a photographic project when he died, at the age of 74, of a heart arrhythmia at his hotel. He spent two decades with ...

Lori Havatian Staff Writer Throughout the years “Musa Daghtsis,” the people who originated from the region of Musa Dagh (made famous for their defense of the Turks and from the famous book, Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel), have told folk tales to not only educate the young but also entertain all. Sona Zeitlian, a graduate from the ...

George Warren Staff Writer Pianist Sergei Babayan has nothing to prove to his fans in Fresno. He’s been here many times before and has shown extreme range of emotion, total command of the keyboard, and a musical vision that goes well beyond the idea of mere entertainment. Babayan drew a full house to the Concert Hall at California State University, ...

Hagop Ohanessian Staff Writer It was an extraordinary experience for me to attend the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (a division of Saroyan Institute) because it gave me the opportunity to engage with others on topics of similar interest and to discuss the Armenian Genocide. It was interesting to learn about other examples of genocide that have ...

Pateel Mekhitarian Staff Writer Although the Armenian language is complex and can be difficult to learn, students at Fresno State are very eager to read, write, and speak the language. The course is taught every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday by Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian. He promptly enters the class each morning with a friendly greeting of Parev [Hello], and from ...

Hagop Ohanessian Staff Writer The Armenian Students Organization (ASO) held its first meeting of the year on September 10. The first order of business on the agenda was to elect the new officers for the year. The officers were interviewed regarding why they wanted to join ASO and especially why they wanted to be executives. They also expressed what they ...

Staff Report The National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, under the direction of maestro Aram Gharabekian, performed in concert on Thursday, August 28, as part of the festivities celebrating the 100th birthday of author William Saroyan. The concert featured works by Aram Khachaturian, Komitas, Alan Hovhaness, and Johannes Brahms, among others. The National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia (NCOA) was formed in ...

Ingibjorg Thorisdottir Special to Hye Sharzhoom William Saroyan’s works have been translated into many languages and his centennial is being widely celebrated around the world in 2008. Iceland is no exception. On this little island in the North Atlantic, populated by 300,000 inhabitants, some of Saroyan’s works have been translated into Icelandic. The first translations are from the 1940s when ...