Groundbreaking Musical About Armenian Genocide to be Staged in Glendale

September 1, 2016 By administrator

A scene from the Armenian Genocide-themed musical “I Am Alive”

Denver-based Emmy Award winning composer Denise Gentilini and writing partner, internationally celebrated singer/songwriter Lisa Nemzo, bring their original production, I AM ALIVE to Los Angeles for an exclusive showing for one weekend only this September.

Gentilini, who is of Armenian descent, has assembled a largely non-Armenian cast to tell the story of the Armenian Genocide with a completely new focus; celebrating those who survived. Gentilini was inspired by the story of her own grandparents who survived the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Using her childhood memories of her grandparents as well as transcripts from interviews with them, Gentilini/Nemzo used direct excerpts from their firsthand accounts for some lyrics and dialogue in the musical. This personal connection has allowed them to craft a complex experience that explores the human side of a politically contentious topic alongside the love story that unfolds between two people in an unimaginable set of circumstances.

With the 100 year anniversary behind us, this production is meant to provide closure around the tragedy and provide a renewed focus on the human spirit.

I AM ALIVE is produced by Well Orchestrated Madness and directed by Christy Montour-Larson and will be shown only one weekend on the West Coast. Partner organizations include; Jewish World Watch, Mashdots College, United Armenian Council, ANCA-WR and AFFMA. Armenians of Colorado serve as the fiscal sponsor.

Denise Gentilini (Book, Music, Lyrics, Orchestrator, Producer and Music Director)
Specializing in film music, Denise is an Emmy® award winning composer with 30-years experience in music composition and production. After 20 years of performing and doing session work in her native Los Angeles, Denise moved to Colorado to continue her music career. Using her music as a tool for awareness, Denise has written songs for The Children’s Hospital, Colorado NSC Autism Department, (I Chose You), The Iliff School of Theology – Courage Award honoring Judy Shepard (Courage Said I Can, co-written with Mindy Sterling). With her partner, Lynette Prisner, their production company, Well-Orchestrated Madness produced the 2009 concert, We Are Voices – For A Future Without Genocide, using her original music to bring awareness to a subject close to her heart, genocide. Denise is the granddaughter of Armenian Genocide survivors, Kourken and Malvine Handjian, whose lives the musical, I AM ALIVE, is inspired by. Denise’s first Emmy® was received for her film score in her 2002 documentary about her grandparents, The Handjian Story: A Road Less Traveled. Incidentally, the Handjians were pillars of the community in Los Angeles and were members of Holy Martyrs church in Encino. Denise received her second Emmy® award for her film score in the documentary film, Conviction, telling the story of three Dominican nuns who devote their lives to peace. Denise has been writing with Lisa Nemzo for over two decades. I AM ALIVE is their first musical and they are very excited to bring this important history to the stage under the experienced direction of Christy Montour-Larson along with a cast of 21 talented actors from Denver, Colorado.

The MIDEM musical festival opens in Cannes France.

June 5, 2015 By administrator

June 5 to 8, this French city will be filled with Armenian music. Armenia is participating in the festival as an honored guest.

At a press conference at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Armenia’s Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan presented the program of Armenia’s participation in the festival.

“It was important for us to be present at this festival as an honored guest. I think you all know that this year is symbolic for Armenia. We are commemorating the Armenian Genocide. This is an opportunity to recall our tragedy and demand recognition and condemnation of last century’s first genocide. It is a question of principle for us to be present here and introduce ourselves to the world not as a victim, but as strong and talented Armenians that survived genocide and revived,” Ms Poghosyan said.

“The purpose of our participation is to show the audience and experts Armenian voices,” Ruben Tonikyan, Director of the ProArt company said as he presented the program.

Armenia is presenting its concept “Armenian elements of music” at the festival. The pomegranate with four different colors representing earth, air, water and fire is the symbol of the festival.

“This year is a special year for us – a year marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. We have formulated certain symbols for this year. There are four of them: our memory, gratitude to our supporters, international struggle for admission of the Armenian Genocide by the perpetrator-state and, finally, the concept of revival. I think this concept of revival is the slogan of our participation in the MIDEM festival. We are displaying our musical culture, which has been preserved and re-created since the Armenian Genocide. We marching toward the future with this culture,” Ms Poghosyan said.

“We are living in a country where we feel the government’s support. We have a State Youth Orchestra, which means we have young musicians and our government is supporting them,” Sergey Smbatyan, Art Director of the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, told the reporters.

Cannes, which is hosting numerous tourists, is adorned with the colors of the Armenian national flag, with billboards reading ‘Armenia is an honored country’ in the streets. The front billboard of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès is dedicated to Armenia.

Armenia is participating in the MIDEM festival with the sponsorship of the State Commission for Coordination for Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide centenary, Armenia’s Ministry of Culture and Tashir Group company.

Different Armenian compositions – classical music, jazz, rock – will be performed at concert halls and on open-air stages. Lectures will be delivered on Armenian culture and Armenian folk instruments, composer Komitas, as well as on compositions by world-famous composers who were inspired by Armenia.

The jazz band Katuner (Cats), Acoustic Colors quartet, ‘Mikael Voskanyan & friends’ ethnic jazz band, Dorians rock band, and Ambassador traditional music group will perform at the opening evening at the InterContinental Carlton Cannes.

The Hover state chamber choir will give a concert at the Evangelical Church in Cannes, on June 6.

The State Youth Orchestra of Armenia will give a concert with the well-known cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan’s participation at the Debussy hall, on June 7.

MIDEM will pay tribute to the great Armenian composer Komitas on the 80th anniversary of his death.

The InterContinental Carlton Cannes hotel will host an exhibition of paintings by Tigran Dzitoghtsyan and designer Vahan Khachatryan.

Armenian cuisine will be presented at the festival as well.

Emmy award winning composer to stage musical on Armenian Genocide

February 25, 2015 By administrator

Three time Emmy award winning composer Denise Gentilini, along with internationally celebrated singer songwriter Lisa Nemzo, has created I Am Alive, a dramatic musical devoted to the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, reported the KDVR-TV FOX Denver website.

The musical spans a nearly 75-year love story of Gentilini’s grandparents Kourken and Malvine Handjian, who survived the genocide.

“My grandfather, Kourken, became an orphan at the age of eight. His father was killed when the Armenian genocide started in central Turkey, in 1915, where he lived with his family. Along with his surviving family, he was sent on what would become the death march of men, women and children across the Syrian desert to concentration camps. But a Turkish man had pity on this little boy. He rescued him and placed him in an orphanage.

He never saw his family again. My grandmother Malvine also lived in Turkey. Her father was poisoned in the genocide and because she had too many siblings for her mother to handle, she was given away to another family to be raised by them. As surviving Armenians were deported from Turkey, both Kourken and Malvine wound up in a refugee camp in Greece where they found each other. When she was 14 and he was 19 they married, and spent nearly 75 years together,” Gentilini said.

Gentilini noted while she has known her history for decades, she chose this year to share what her family went through.

“In April it will be the 100th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, and I wanted to tell the story in a different way,” she said. “There have been plays and movies and marches, but I’ve never heard a musical. I believe music is a universal language, so even those who don’t know about this time in history might be interested because the music makes it accessible.”