The Seemorgh Ensemble whose Artistic Director is Artin Der Minassians, will perform a colorful selection of Armenian sacred and secular choral repertoire as a well-deserved tribute to the legacy of the "House of Torgom" on April 9, 2011 at St. Vartan Armenian Church, Oakland, CA.

The program features works by Komitas in memory of the 75th anniversary of his passing away.

The audience will discover the wittiness of Barsegh Kanachian in his Shoosho and Dsenkele-Menkele, and will be mesmerized by Leylaama and To Beeyo, two masterful compositions of Sergey Aghajanian in Persian dialects. A recent work by Daniel Yeazhisht, April 24 (La Minor), promises to be transcendent in this time of year, and James Gozalian's Dsidsernak (Swallow), will call to mind the unmatched beauty of the Armenian choral heritage, Payvand reports.

The singing of the Seemorgh Ensemble was described as "lustily", "creating panoply of stirring sounds", and "raising the rafters" in San Francisco Classical Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, Mercury News, and Contra Costa Times after the Seemorgh Ensemble and the Oakland East Bay Symphony joined forces at the majestic Paramount Theatre to conclude the Notes from Armenia concert in January 2010.

To revitalize over a century-old Armenian and Iranian choral and operatic heritage and to achieve the highest level of choral performance, Artin Der Minassians joined Bay Area Classical Harmonies in 2006 and out of this collaboration the Seemorgh Ensemble was formed. The Seemorgh Ensemble was invited by San Francisco City Hall to take part in the city's 2007 celebration of Persian New Year (Norooz), which was hosted by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.

In addition to Notes from Armenia, notable performances of the Seemorgh Ensemble over past few years are The Ever-Ringing Belfry: The Legacy of Komitas (2009) and From Constantinople to Tbilisi: An Armenian Legacy (2008).