The big poster of world famous John Malkovich appeared on the wall of Aram Khachaturian Grand Concert Hall in mid-August, and people were wondering: what could a Hollywood star have to do with State Youth Orchestra of Armenia on the same stage?

Alfred Schnittke’s music and Ernesto Sabato’s literature are going to unite the State Youth Orchestra and Malkovich within the frames of 5th Aram Khachaturian International Festival.

The project was implemented in a number of countries, so the orchestra have already had the chance to cooperate with Hollywood legend Malkovich. According to the orchestra’s Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Sergey Smbatyan, Malkovich is familiar with the Armenian history, and they had discussed the idea of his visit to Armenia during the meetings before.

On October 11 John Malkovich and the Armenian musicians will together introduce the audience to two works: Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra and an extract from “Report on the Blind” of Ernesto Sabato’s novel “On Heroes and Tombs” (with Armenian translation on the screen).

“There will be nothing but the presence of orchestra, musicians and John Malkovich. We will not use any conceptual theatre effect, since Malkovich is the one to create theatre. The lights were off during the international premiere of this project in Seoul. People did not know what John Malkovich was going to do, yet his aura was so strong, that they immediately felt his presence once he appeared on the stage, ” Sergey Smbatyan told Mediamax.

Smbatyan said that it is a great honor for the State Youth Orchestra to host one of the most famous and distinguished Hollywood actors not as a guest, but as a professional and present a joint project with him. Malkovich will arrive in Armenia the day before the performance. He has already worked with the orchestra, so there is no need for long preparations.

“Working with a teammate like Malkovich, who lives, thinks and creates on the stage is always an unpredictable yet great experience. You witness how he creates the values that people like and cherish. I am happy for hosting in Armenia this non-entertainment project, and I would love to see people coming to the concert not just to see John on the stage but to hear and understand what an important message he has to deliver,” Sergey Smbatyan said.

Within the frames of the 5th Aram Khachaturian International Festival, the Armenian audience will be able to listen to Serj Tankian's Orca Symphony No. 1 for the first time. Headed by Sergey Smbatyan, Pan-Armenian Symphony Orchestra performed an extract from this work on April 24 this year.

“Tankian is one of the greatest and most famous musicians in the world, and Armenian youth follows his activity very attentively. We want to show them that Tankian attaches special importance to classical music, since he decided to write a piece for Symphony Orchestra. We are trying to prove that classical music can also attract the audience,” Sergey Smbatyan said.

Lusine Gharibyan