Ara Dinkjian, founder of the Night Ark ensemble, returns to us with a special performance for the Oud Festival’s 20th anniversary featuring the wonderful vocalist Burcu Yıldız, in a concert dedicated to songs of Armenian composers. The performance will present the rich variety of Armenian vocal traditions—folk, minstrel, classical, and popular songs, some written in the historic homeland and diaspora, as well as some composed in present-day Turkey. These Armenian songs were written by such great Armenian composers as Sayat Nova, Gomidas Vartabed, Udi Hrant Kenkulian and Dinkjian himself.
Dinkjian appears as a composer and instrumentalist on Burcu Yıldız’s latest album, “O Günler,” which was released early this year. Yıldız co-directed (with Onur Gunay) a documentary film about Dinkjian and his father, singer Onnik Dinkjian, titled Garod, which means “longing” in Armenian.