Vienna concert commemorates Armenian Genocide centennial

November 10, 2015 - 17:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Vienna hosted “With you, Armenia” concert commemorating the Genocide centennial on Saturday, November 7.

According to Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, the concert was organized by the Armenian Genocide centennial committee, Armenia’s Ministry of Culture, and the country’s Embassy to Austria, in cooperation with Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival.

The event took place at famous Wiener Musikverein concert hall’s main stage in the Grosser Saal.

Violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, pianist Nare Aghramanyan, world famous cellist Mischa Maisky and his family trio played works by Komitas, Babajanian, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Bizet and other composers. A group of prominent opera singers, including Liana Harutyunyan, Hovhannes Ayvazyan, Varduhi Khachatryan and Barsegh Tumanyan performed Mozart’s Requiem to the accompaniment of Camerata Salzburg chamber orchestra.

Ambassadors to Austria, heads of various international missions, diplomats, politicians, and Austrian-Armenian community members attended the event.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.