On Tuesday, May 20, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music will celebrate the establishment of the Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts and Culture with a free concert by internationally-acclaimed musician Tigran Hamasyan. The chair was established in 2024.
“The Promise Chair has opened the door to a world of remarkable possibilities,” said Eileen Strempel, inaugural dean for The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. “It supports our vibrant Armenian Music Program by fueling groundbreaking research and enriching our teaching and expanding performance opportunities. The Promise Chair raises our international profile and impact by simultaneously expanding our reach as a global university while strengthening our ties to local Los Angeles communities.”
The Promise Chair supports a rich blend of concerts, public lectures and scholarly programming offered by the Armenian Music Program. In addition to providing student scholarship to support the education of a student ensemble that performs in the school’s annual Spring Festival of World Music, the program hosts an annual day of Armenian music that combines music, dance and history, as well as numerous concerts that feature Armenian classical and folk traditions. Regular scholarly symposia on Armenian cultural heritage sponsored by the program attract experts and artists from around the world.
“Along with the Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Studies and Richard Hovannisian Chair in Modern Armenian History, the Promise chair and the Armenian Music Program strengthens UCLA’s commitment to Armenian studies,” said Melissa Bilal, the inaugural holder of the Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture. “Our focus is both local and global in scope, as evidenced by our recent events on the history of the Armenian community of Ethiopia and the conference we co-sponsored on Armenian cultural heritage.”
The May 20 celebration of the Promise Chair features Tigran Hamasyan, an international jazz musician with strong ties to the Los Angeles region. His compositions have mined Armenian liturgical and folk music for melodies, blending them seamlessly with global jazz, rock, metal and electronica. Such a description does not capture his startling originality, nor his astounding ability to showcase his virtuosic piano skills without ever sounding labored or artificial. His music consistently attracts crossover audiences who find infinite delights on multiple levels.
“We are thrilled that Tigran Hamasyan will be performing a free public concert supported by our program,” said Melissa Bilal. “When I teach my undergraduate Armenian music class, students love bringing Hamasyan’s music and performance videos to class as a part of their listening analysis assignments. In the past, he worked directly with our students and is known to us as a renowned pianist and composer, and also as a generous educator and mentor.”
Hamasyan’s distinctive talents as a pianist and composer have long been recognized in the jazz world. In 2006, Hamasyan was on stage at the auditorium at the Smithonian’s Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C., performing “Cherokee” and “Solar” before an audience and a panel of judges that included Herbie Hancock, Andrew Hill, Renee Rosnes, Billy Taylor and Randy Weston. It was the Thelonius Monk Institute’s national jazz competition, and Hamasyan was only twenty years old. He won the competition.
New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff wrote that “his performances … were intensely searching, and stubborn in their intuitive force.” Ratliff also noted that Hamasyan’s style owed something to piano greats Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock, but that his “nonstop rhythmic reshuffling” was all his own.
That distinctive artistic voice grew over time, as Hamasyan’s albums explored folk traditions and experimental sounds. It was a sound deeply rooted in place.
“My music has always been deeply connected to Armenia,” said Tigran Hamasyan. “Armenian folk culture and liturgical music offers such rich material. And it works so beautifully in so many genres, whether jazz or rock or even metal.”
Amid a string of sold-out European shows that began with the release of his new album The Bird of a Thousand Voices, Tigran Hamasyan’s upcoming free concert at Schoenberg Hall is a rare opportunity for audiences to experience this remarkable musician. And it celebrates the deep commitment on The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s part to the Armenian community.
“It is truly meaningful to celebrate the Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture with this concert,” said Dean Strempel. “This gathering offers a powerful opportunity to bring communities together through the beauty and resonance of music.”