Held between 5 and 10 August My Armenia (Im Hayastan) is a Pan Armenian festival held every few years in the capital, Yerevan, which also expands to other Armenian cities.
In its third edition this year, the festival will present Armenian choirs from nine countries: Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Georgia, Russia, Estonia, Turkey Iran, USA and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Arax is represented by 26 singers and four voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and is conducted by maestro Mihran Ghazelian.
The choir will perform at the Yerevan's Opera House on the opening day, 5 August, before moving to Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city and Vanadzor, the capital of the Lori Province in the country's north.
Arax prepared a repertoire of 13 songs that include compositions by father of Armenian music Gomidas, Khatchadour Avedissian, Arno Babajanian, Charles Aznavour as well as Marcel Khalife's Atr Al-Nada.
This will be the second time for Egypt's choir to participate in My Armenia festival. They also participated in the festival's second edition that was held in 2012.
Operating under the Armenian Prelacy of Cairo, the history of Arax Choir goes back to the 1990s, when its name was Zevartnots and was conducted by David Zalyan. The conductor was succeeded by Hrant Aghajanian, a music and arts teacher, an important mediator of Armenian culture in Egypt.
In 2003, Aghajanian was replaced by Mihran Ghazelian, the choir's conductor and artistic director until date and who changed its name to Arax.
The first performance of the choir under the name of Arax was on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of foundation of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (in 303 AD), the oldest church built by a state in the world and the spiritual headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Since becoming Arax, the choir has given a number of concerts in Egypt and has also performed internationally. The choir's current trip to Armenia is being supported by Cairo's Armenian Patriarchate.
Organised by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, this year, the festival celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Independence of the RA.
According to the festival's website, the aim of the event is to "deepen ties and increase opportunities for cooperation between Armenia and Diaspora; contribute to the preservation of the Armenian culture and cultural identity; support the strengthening and development of the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora relations; support the development of new formats of cooperation; deepen ties between the young artists of Armenia and Diaspora, as well as assist in the elaboration and implementation of joint programs."
