The festival was named after Vahagn Stamboltsyan, the founder of the Armenian organ performance school

“A country that has an organ school is among the countries with high cultural education,” said organist Armen Aghajanyan, and this conviction was shared not only by the organizers and participants of the first organ festival held in Armenia, but also by the broad circles of the music-loving public who attended the twelve concerts held within the framework of the festival. The founder of that school and the teacher of several generations of organists was Vahagn Stamboltsyan, which is why this festival was named after him. “V. Stamboltsyan was the first in Armenia in the 60s-70s who, having graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory and receiving numerous invitations from Leningrad and Moscow, preferred to return to Armenia in order to establish an organ school in his homeland. He succeeded in this, and today we have a wonderful “bunch” of organists. Many of his students are currently active in Armenia and other countries of the world, - says A. Aghajanyan. - He was the first to bring organ music from the church to the stage in our country. In addition to the works of Armenian composers, arrangements of Armenian spiritual music have also been performed on stages, and this has also been done by foreign organists. And these arrangements were mainly by V. Stamboltsyan." Let us note that organ concerts have been held and are continuously organized in our country. Currently, at least twice a month, evenings of organ music are held in the Komitas Chamber Music Hall in Yerevan.

The idea of ​​organizing an organ festival was conceived at the National Center for Chamber Music ten years ago. The idea was put forward by Armen Sukiasyan, currently the deputy director of the center. In 2020, the festival was finally to be held within the framework of the KGMS grant program, but the pandemic and then the brutal war prevented it. Realizing that 2022 is not an easy year, full of many difficulties and anxieties, nevertheless, it was decided not to postpone the holding of the first organ festival in Armenia any longer. The goal was to introduce organ music to people more widely, to show the power and ability of our organ school, as well as to give impetus to its further development, to interest the new generation of musicians in choosing this instrument.

During the festival weeks, concerts were held not only in the capital, but also in Charentsavan and Kapan. There are organs in musical educational institutions operating in the Kotayk and Syunik regions, so it was possible to hold organ concerts (by the way, V. Stamboltsyan made a great contribution to the installation of an organ in the hall of the Kapan music school at that time) (*):

The festival participants included not only Armenian organists, but also numerous guests from abroad, which was also an opportunity to learn mastery lessons from each other. Organ works or arrangements for organ of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Cesar Franck, Leon Boelmann, Felix Mendelssohn, Makar Ekmalyan, Komitas, Mikhail Tariverdiev, Oleg Yanchenko, Dietrich Buxtehude, Nicolas de Griny, Georg Muffat, Abraham Van den Kerkhoven, Ad Wames, and others were performed by organists Teresa Voskanyan, Armen Aghajanyan, Anna Bakunts, Harutyun Tagvoryan, Konstantin Volostnov (Russia), Lada Labzina (principal organist of the Moscow Zaryadye Concert Hall), Jean-Pierre Stivers (Netherlands), Fabio Machera (Italy), Evgeni Avramenko (titled organist of the Kaliningrad Cathedral), Marina Nahapetyan (director of the Kapan Children's Art School), Lusine Harutyunyan, Lusin Sarajyan, Karine Hovhannisyan, David Hovhannisyan, Arpine Harutyunyan. Soprano Elvira Margaryan, flutist Vadim Talalyan, the male choir of spiritual music "Psaghmosergu" (artistic director and conductor Vahe Begoyan) gave separate concerts. And composer Hovhannes Manukyan performed his own work in the hall of the Composers' Union within the framework of the festival weeks.

The concerts were held in packed halls, and the final concert held at the Komitas Chamber Music Hall can be called "Handelian". A. Aghajanyan, L. Harutyunyan, L. Sarajyan, A. Bakunts, K. Volostnov, H. Tagvoryan and the Ancient Music "Tagharan" Ensemble (artistic director and conductor: Sedrak Yerkanyan) performed Handel's six organ concertos in succession.

At the end of the first V. Stamboltsyan organ festival in Armenia, the organist of the "Tagharan" Ensemble of Ancient Music, Tereza Voskanyan, was awarded the medal of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia for the preservation and dissemination of organ art in Armenia, as well as for her long-term activity and significant contribution to the field of organ art.

T. Voskanyan is one of the leading organists of Armenia. His name is known not only to Armenians, but also to foreign audiences. His performing art is highly appreciated in wide professional musical circles, the music he performs is multi-genre and includes everything from the gems of medieval music to the complex works of modern composers. He is the first performer of works by a number of famous Armenian composers (including Yervand Yerkanyan, David Sakoyan). T. Voskanyan was educated at the Paliashvili Music School in Tbilisi, and then at the Tchaikovsky School in Yerevan. At the Komitas State Conservatory, he studied as a pianist with Associate Professor I. Sedrakyan, and later as an organist with Prof. V. Stamboltsyan, whose performing "school" he is a worthy successor. Having been the organist and harpsichordist of “Tagharan” for about two and a half decades, he has performed with the ensemble’s accompaniment or as a soloist in hundreds of concerts with comprehensive programs. As part of the “Tagharan” ensemble, as well as other musical groups, he has toured in Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Lebanon, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, and elsewhere. Since 2013, he has been the organist of the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, and his music is heard during the Holy Liturgies.

*) By the way, the world-famous American-Armenian organist Perch Zhamkochyan has made an undeniable contribution to the acquisition of organs in Armenia. Ts.Kh.