Category: News

The Globe and Mail, Canada
April 2 2004

Soprano soars with passion, panache

TSO program features a miscellany of good things and ends with a zinger

By KEN WINTERS
Special to The Globe and Mail

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano
Sir Andrew Davis, conductor/pianist
At Roy Thomson Hall
In Toronto on Wednesday

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s concert Wednesday at Roy Thomson
Hall was very much a “this, that, these, them and those” affair,
musically verging on the miscellaneous, though full of good things,
including the services of the trimmed down and remodelled conductor
laureate Sir Andrew Davis and the superb, gorgeously gowned young
Canadian-Armenian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian.

The “those” (of my opening conceit) were the Symphonies of Wind
Instruments by Igor Stravinsky, which began the concert and which
would have been another of the good things in another context. These
tiny, severely elegant pieces are not symphonies in the 19th-century,
symphonic-hall sense of the word. In them, Stravinsky returned to the
original meaning of the word symphony: “a sounding together of
instruments.”

To achieve the very particular “soundings-together” he had in mind,
he used only 21 wind instruments to create what he called “an austere
ritual . . . unfolded in terms of short litanies between different
groups of homogeneous instruments.”

In other words, a large but not very large chamber piece, almost by
definition out of place in Roy Thomson Hall, however neatly done by
Sir Andrew and the Toronto Symphony winds.

The “this” was Mozart’s Concert-Rondo in A, K. 386, a beguiling
little movement for piano solo, two oboes, two horns and strings,
which Mozart had left only partially orchestrated.

Sir Andrew had completed the orchestration, and in Wednesday’s
performance he both conducted and played the solo, the latter
stylishly if not impeccably. (He was fine in the lyric bits but he
fudged the pyrotechnics.) But the Rondo was nicely placed between the
“these,” a brace of arias from the young Mozart’s opera Il Re
pastore, K. 208, and the great concert aria with obbligato piano Non
temer amato bene, K.505, which the mature Mozart composed for himself
as pianist and the English soprano Nancy Storace (who had been his
Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro) to perform at her farewell Vienna
concert.

Isabel Bayrakdarian sang all three arias exquisitely, her radiant
soprano calmed for the first aria, brilliant for the second and
impassioned for the concert piece, with Sir Andrew graduating from
the Rondo to Mozart’s own role in the last, again playing very well
except in the fancy bits.

The “them” were two Rossini arias, the one Miss Bayrakdarian did sing
after intermission and the one she didn’t but might have sung as well
if the Stravinsky had been replaced by something more in keeping with
the rest of the occasion.

The one she sang, with stunning panache, was En proie à la tristesse
from Le Comte Ory. The contrasting one she didn’t sing, alas, might
have been the beautiful Willow Song from Rossini’s Otello (less
famous but more lovely even than Verdi’s), or possibly the melting
Sombre forêt from the same composer’s dramatic masterpiece Guillaume
Tell.

But all musical errors and omissions were redeemed by the splendid
“that” which ended the program: Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, in a
zinger of a performance, with Sir Andrew and the orchestra at their
sonic and rhythmic best, which is saying quite a lot.

Armenian opposition slams prosecutor for taking action against rally-goers

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Apr 04

[Presenter] The first figures of the Justice bloc held a press
conference today [in connection with the criminal cases against
opposition members following a rally on 28 March].

[Correspondent over video of the press conference] On Thursday [1
April], the Justice bloc held a press conference which was devoted to
the statement of the Prosecutor-General’s Office issued on 31
March. The activists of the Justice bloc assessed the decision of the
Prosecutor-General’s Office as an unprecedented attempt at political
harassment. Speaking about the steps and measures taken by the
Prosecutor’s Office, Albert Bazeyan (Republic Party leader) did not
deny that they (opposition) had weapons and ammunition. We have a lot
of weapons and this is legal, the chairman of the Republic Party said.

The leaders of the Justice bloc stated that the actions of the
Prosecutor’s Office were illegal. The question is that they
[opposition] were having only a meeting with their voters. The
developments of the recent days, as Albert Bazeyan noted, prove that
the struggle is moving from the political field to the confrontational
field. The Justice bloc confirms that it has closed ranks to speed up
the process of changing power.

[Stepan Demirchyan, leader of the Justice bloc] We have done and will
do everything possible to stage these actions peacefully to the very
end for the sake of our state and nation.

[Correspondent] The Justice bloc stated that the illegitimate
president and his underlings are responsible for the explosive
situation in the country.

Nune Aleksanyan, Aylur.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State info agency
April 2 2004

MOSCOW DECLARATION MEETS AZERBAIJAN INTERESTS
[April 02, 2004, 15:27:06]

A meeting of the Milli Majlis Standing Commission on Security and
Defense Affairs was held on April 1 to discuss the draft laws `On
Ratification of Moscow Declaration of the Republic of Azerbaijan and
the Russian Federation’, `Agreement on Mutual Secret Data Protection
between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Government
the Russian Federation’, and `On Introducing Amendments and
Supplements in Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of
Azerbaijan’.

Deputy Chairman of the Milli Majlis, Chair of the Commission Ziyafat
Asgarov said the Moscow Declaration whose foundation was laid by our
nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev, would play an important role in
development of Azerbaijan-Russia strategic partnership.

The document was signed in the course of the President of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Moscow in February. The Declaration says that
the parties pursue joint activity in political, trade and economic,
humanitarian, security and defense, universal and regional spheres,
as well as in the Caspian. The document also confirms that Russia
recognizes territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, stands for
unconditional fulfillment of the resolutions of UN Security Council
and OSCE concerning Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh,
and bilateral military cooperation not directed against the third
party.

The three draft laws have been decided to be submitted to the Milli
Majlis for discussion.

Interfax
April 2 2004

Foreign investment in Armenian economy up 5.6% in 2003

Moscow. (Interfax) – Foreign investments in Armenia’s economy in 2003
totaled $229.6 million, a 5.6% increase from 2002, the country’s
National Statistics Service told Interfax. Direct foreign investment
increased 8.9% to $153 million.

In particular, investment from Russia jumped 92.2% to $91.8 million,
from the United States 9.2% to $10.7 million and from Greece 55.4% to
$29.3 million. German investments were up 32.5 times at $1.8 million.

Armenia’s communications sector attracted $29.3 million, its food
industry $12.9 million and iron ore extraction business $122 million.

Attack on Armenian rights activist “state terror”, wife says

A1+ web site
1 Apr 04

The chairwoman of the Pen club, Anna Akopyan, who is the wife of the
chairman of the Helsinki Association, Mikael Daniyelyan, has described
the violence against her husband as terror. “I expected it,” she said,
adding that the development was to be predicted from the publications
in the pro-government press.

She said that insults had been published against Mikael Daniyelyan,
but he had not responded as he would not stoop to that level.

Anna Akopyan said that Mikael Daniyelyan had described the accident as
“obvious state terror”. He monitors the authorities’ behaviour and
cannot neglect those in trouble. “In their time the Dashnaks were in
trouble, tomorrow it could be [President Robert] Kocharyan,” the
victim’s wife said.

At the same time she is sure that there are many who speak out against
the authorities now. “But why Mikael? Because he speaks harshly,
pulling no punches.”

Has a criminal case been instituted? “No. I call it state terror,
because it took me four hours to manage to bring policemen to the
scene. They came and found that Mikael was not able to speak and they
said they would come later. They have not yet come,” the chairwoman
of the Pen club said.

One of the journalists asked why this incident was politicized. “Are
not the examples of Mark Grigoryan, Nikol Pashinyan, A1+, Tigran
Ayrapetyan enough? How many examples like this do you need to
convince you that they are all ordered from above?” Anna Akopyan said
in conclusion.

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 1) 517 163
Fax: (374 1) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
April 2, 2004

COMMUNIQUE FROM THE SUPREME SPIRITUAL COUNCIL

With deep concern, the Supreme Spiritual Council received the news from the
Diocesan Council of the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Church, that the
Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has brought to its painful
conclusion, the process of the establishment of a parallel administrative
structure within the region of the Canadian Armenian Diocese, canonically
comprised as part of the Pontificate of All Armenians, in spite of the
fraternal exhortations made by the Catholicos of All Armenians and the
Supreme Spiritual Council.

This move has neither justifiable explanation nor foundation whatsoever,
from ecclesiological or hierarchical perspectives, or within the context of
the unspoiled preservation of the spiritual unanimity of the Armenian
people. The issue is more than the establishment of one more un-canonical
diocese. It is the confirmation that the Catholicosate of the Great House
of Cilicia, is not ready to reconsider its divisive spirit adopted in 1956,
and in accord with the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, to reestablish the
canonical status within the Armenian Church. In spite of its assurances of
being dedicated to the motto “One Nation, One Homeland, and One Church”, the
Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, with “new reorganizations” is
attempting to persistently expand and to solidify the dioceses it seized
with political motivations, from the Catholicosate of All Armenians during
the years of the cold war, deepening the division within the Armenian
Church, and jeopardizing the improved relations which began in 1988 with the
Mother See.

The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia does not desire to see the
changed circumstances prevailing in this present world or the imperatives
conditioned by the reality of the independence of the Homeland, nor does it
value the spirit of the new era, which proposes the demand to reestablish
and keep unspoiled the unity of the Armenian Church and Nation.

Any attempt to breach the unanimity and unity of our people dispersed
throughout the world, which is the supreme and timeless goal of the Armenian
Church, will face the firm resolve of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to
keep that unity unspoiled and unshaken.

Holy Etchmiadzin appeals to all faithful children of Canada and all seized
dioceses of the Mother See, stating that her paternal love towards all is
unchangeable, because regardless of under what guise and despite references
to “the will of the people”, (a transparent old device used to attempt to
justify such measures), undoubtedly no nation has the desire to be in
dissention.

The Mother See once again fraternally calls on the Catholicosate of Cilicia
to sound judgment, welcoming every step directed to overcoming the discord
and the reestablishment of the canonical status within the Armenian Church,
and invites her children to be zealous and unified on the road of the
settlement of disunity – a rift born from the dictates of difficult times,
and in effect for half a century. “Primacy of Love” – here is the mystery
of the supremacy of the Mother See, as it was yesterday, as it is today, and
forever.

(signed)
Supreme Spiritual Council
Catholicosate of All Armenians

##

Reuters AlertNet, UK
April 2 2004

Three die in Armenia cable car crash

YEREVAN, April 2 (Reuters) – A cablecar in the capital of Armenia
fell 10 metres (30 feet) to the ground on Friday, killing three
passengers and injuring eight, the state emergencies service said.

It said in a statement that two people died on the spot when a
12-seat cabin fell into a courtyard. Nine passengers were rushed to
hospital, where one died later.

There have been no official statements as to what had caused the
accident on the cablecar operating from the city centre to a hillside
residential district. A manager of the company running the link
suggested in a television interview that unusually strong winds might
have been the reason.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

Associated Press
April 2 2004

Some Facts and Figures on Kurds

PEOPLE – An estimated 20 million to 25 million Kurds live mostly in
four countries – Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. The largest community,
with about 12 million people, is in Turkey.

—__

HISTORY – Kurds trace their history to ancient Mesopotamia. They were
a significant power in the early Middle Ages and after World War I
were promised an independent homeland. Recent decades have seen
Kurdish rebellions in Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

—__

LANGUAGE – Kurdish is an Indo-European language like English and is
closely related to Iran’s Farsi. The various Kurdish dialects are to
a large extent mutually incomprehensible. The dialects include:
Kurmanji, or northern Kurdish, the largest spoken dialect, which is
spoken in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria as well as parts
of Armenia and Georgia; Sorani, or central Kurdish, which is spoken
mainly in parts of northern Iraq and western Iran; and Zaza, which is
spoken in eastern Turkey.

Kurdish dialects have borrowed heavily from other languages,
including Persian, Arabic and Turkish, but they are grammatically
distinct.

Submitted by Janoyan Ana

The Scotsman, UK
April 2 2004

Cable Car Crashes

A cable car crashed to the ground in the Armenian capital Yerevan
today, killing three passengers and injuring six others, officials
said.

The aerial cable car was carrying nine passengers when it plummeted
from a height of some 65 feet after the cable broke, Emergency
Situations Department spokesman Araik Movseyan said.

One of the dead and two of the injured were Armenian citizens, he
said. Prosecutors have opened a criminal case and an investigation.

The Mercury, Australia

April 2 2004

Highlights in history on this date

1993 – Armenian forces seize Kelbajar in Azerbaijan, completing a
land link to the Armenian enclave Nagorno-Karabach.

1512 – Beyazid II, Sultan of Turkey, abdicates in favour of son,
Selim I.
1559 – Peace treaty between France and Spain is signed at
Cateau-Cambresis, France, leaving Spain the dominant power in Italy
for the next 150 years.
1612 – Protestant Union of Germany signs defensive alliance with
England.
1682 – Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter best known for his
populist religious works, dies.
1721 – Sir Robert Walpole is appointed first lord of the treasury and
chancellor of the exchequer, effectively Britain’s first prime
minister.
1833 – Attempt by revolutionaries to take over Frankfurt Diet in
Germany is crushed.
1860 – The legendary Pony Express begins a US mail service between St
Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California.
1865 – In the American Civil War, Union forces occupy the Confederate
capital Richmond, Virginia.
1882 – After more than 15 years of robbing banks and trains, US
outlaw Jesse James is shot in the back at St Joseph, Missouri by a
member of his gang.
1883 – State Premier Thomas McIlwraith claims British New Guinea as a
Queensland possession; the claim was later disallowed by Britain.
1897 – Death of Johannes Brahms, German composer and pianist.
1913 – English suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst is found guilty of
encouraging supporters to arson and sentenced to three years in
prison.
1920 – US author F Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre are married, four
days after publication of his novel This Side of Paradise.
1922 – Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Soviet
Communist Party.
1930 – Ras Tafari becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia
(Ethiopia).
1933 – First flight over Mt Everest in the Himalayas is made by four
Britons in two biplanes.
1936 – Bruno Hauptmann is electrocuted for the kidnap-murder of US
aviator Charles Lindbergh’s infant son.
1941 – British troops evacuate Libyan port Bengazi during World War
II.
1943 – Death of German actor Conrad Veidt, best known for his roles
in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Casablanca.
1948 – United States creates the Marshall Plan, allocating $US5.33
billion in aid to 16 European nations to help in rebuilding after
WWII.
1949 – Transjordan signs an armistice with the newly founded state
Israel.
1968 – Less than 24 hours before his assassination in Memphis,
Tennessee, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr delivers his
famous “mountaintop” speech to a rally of striking sanitation
workers.
1974 – More than 300 people die when a series of deadly tornadoes
strike wide parts of the US South and Midwest before jumping across
the border into Canada.
1975 – Russian Anatoly Karpov, 23, becomes world chess champion when
American Bobby Fischer fails to show up for their match in Manila.
1982 – Britain dispatches a naval task force to the south Atlantic to
reclaim the disputed Falkland Islands from Argentina; UN Security
Council votes 10-1 in favour of a resolution demanding withdrawal of
Argentine forces; A new state Labor government, under John Cain, is
elected in Victoria.
1986 – Peter Pears, British operatic tenor, dies.
1987 – The late Duchess of Windsor’s jewels are auctioned, fetching
nearly $US45 million.
1989 – Guerrillas and South African-led security forces wage fierce
hand-to-hand battles in northern Nigeria.
1990 – Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan dies in suburban Los Angeles at age
66.
1991 – UN Security Council votes 12-1 to accept a ceasefire
resolution requiring Iraq to destroy its weapons of mass destruction
and authorising peacekeeping troops to be deployed in the region;
Death of British novelist Graham Greene, aged 86, in Switzerland.
1992 – Communist Ramiz Alia resigns as president of Albania, two
weeks after a non-Communist parliament is elected.
1993 – Armenian forces seize Kelbajar in Azerbaijan, completing a
land link to the Armenian enclave Nagorno-Karabach.
1994 – Thousands jam a Sarajevo cathedral for the first peaceful
Easter in two years, but fighting continues along Serb-Muslim front
lines.
1995 – At least 150 Hutus, mostly women and children, are massacred
in a single village in north-eastern Burundi.
1996 – A US Air Force military plane carrying US Commerce Secretary
Ron Brown and 34 others crashes in stormy weather on a hillside
outside Dubrovnik, Croatia, killing all aboard; Former maths
professor Theodore Kaczynski is arrested, accused of being America’s
murderous Unabomber.
1997 – Iraq begins distributing the first shipments of 400,000 tonnes
of wheat bought under a deal with the United Nations allowing the
sale of oil for food.
1998 – The Dow Jones industrial average of the New York Stock
Exchange reaches 9,000 for the first time, five months after the
Dow’s biggest one-day drop had many thinking the market was going
into a recession; Australian Defence Force ends its six-month drought
relief operation in Papua New Guinea after delivering 3.2 million kg
of aid to remote areas.
1999 – Christians and Muslims armed with swords, spears and homemade
bombs riot and burn a church, a mosque and several houses in Ambon,
the eastern Indonesian province where chronic rioting has killed more
than 200 people; Lionel Bart, British composer of the musical Oliver,
dies aged 68.
2000 – A federal judge in Washington rules that Microsoft Corp has
violated US antitrust laws by keeping “an oppressive thumb” on
competitors during the race to link Americans to the internet.
2001 – The death toll in a meningitis outbreak in Burkina Faso tops
1,000. The government and the World Health Organisation scramble to
secure millions of vaccine doses to control the epidemic which is
spreading to neighbouring countries.
2002 – The Afghan Army is reborn when the first 600 soldiers trained
for six weeks by international peacekeepers graduate in a ceremony
attended by interim leader Hamid Karzai.
2003 – The World Health Organisation reports 2,270 illnesses,
including 79 deaths, from a spreading epidemic of a new respiratory
ailment known as SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome; The US
Congress overwhelmingly votes to approve nearly $US80 billion
($A107.65 billion) to finance the war in Iraq, reward key allies,
bolster anti-terrorism efforts and help struggling airlines.