Opera King Lear
2024 - Opera
Libretto by David Pountney
Text: William Shakespeare, King Lear, ~1605
Shakespeare's theatrical world as a timeless mirror. Shakespeare's five-act tragedy King Lear, written in the first half of the 17th century, is one of his major works. However, the drama has never been fully set to music. Indeed, the realisation of such a project is a challenge both musically and psychologically. Haig Vartan's aim is to use an accessible 21st-century musical language to transport the audience into Shakespeare's eternal and universal themes.
VII Symphonia Voghp - Lamento
2023 - mezzo soprano & symphonic orchestra
text: Nerses Shnorhali (1102-1173), Lament over Edessa
At a seminar in Venice, I met Archbishop Nerses Der Nersesian (1920-2006), who introduced me to the magnificent poem Lament (on the capture) of Edessa by Nerses Shnorhali (1102-1173). Years later, I read Professor Valentina Calzolari's epochal essay and the desire to set this poem to music became omnipresent. This led to a revelation: in the whole of Lamento, the city of Edessa is represented as a grieving mother.
VI Symphonia Hungarahay
2018 - symphonic orchestra
In 2017, my Transylvanian Armenian friend Janos Frascali-Fugulian sent me four songs of the Armenians of Ani, who settled in Armenopolis (today Gherla in Romania). They were published in 1903 in Hungary by the ethno-historian of Armenian origin Kristóf Szongott. Inspired from this suggestion, I composed a symphony for a small ensemble and dedicated this work to my friend.
V Symphonia King Lear
2017 - symphonic orchestra
Inspiration: William Shakespeare, King Lear, ~1605
Entitled King Lear, my fifth symphony echoes my re-reading of Shakespeare's play of the same name. Various feelings accompanied me as I composed this work: the complex and conflicted character of King Lear, the gentle and faithful Cornelia, the double language of Goneril and Regan, the chorus of knights, the well-placed little words of the madman. In the end, this great panopticum of Shakespeare's heroes is such a lively and contemporary amalgam! It was these situations that inspired me and that are reflected in the symphony.
IV String Quartet Gomidas
2015 - String Quartet
My fourth string quartet holds the name Gomidas. The name of this compositor and ethnomusicologist is emblematic to the Armenian culture. Composed of 3 movements, the oeuvre opens with a Danza –gentle and romantic, inspired by the Armenian folklore. The second Dolcissimo is a journey in the world of dreams and desires, which will bring us to the third Con fuoco, which is the result and the development of the previous movements.
IV Symphonia Shakespearean
2015 - Soprano, bass & symphonic orchestra
text: William Shakespeare, Sonnets
It was love, admiration and, above all, immense respect that drove me to hear the music behind Shakespeare's immortal sonnets. The titles are significant: from the very first movement, I was taken into Shakespeare's philosophical depths.
Sonnet 43: When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see
Sonnet 71: No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
III Symphonia Requiescat
2014 - Soprano, barytone & symphonic orchestra
Text: Oscar Wilde, Requiescat, ~1881
« Here lies that thing the daggers left behind. » César by Jorge Luis Borges
All started by a comment of James Joyce in his Ulysse on Oscar Wilde’s Requiescat. After I read and re-read this poem I realised the universality of this immortal work: personal and collective tragedy, the tragedy of loss, losing the birthplace, country, losing future, the beloved people, losing hope, being ravished the life. Any kind of Genocide is produced by the human race. Really?
Requiescat in peace - Rest in peace - to all the victims of 1915.
II Symphonia Concertante
2013 - violin, cello & symphonic orchestra
I. Introitus
The first movement is reserved for a solo violin, a solo cello and percussions. It opens the symphony like a gate, inviting the listener to enter the music.
II. Metamorphosis
The second movement begins just as the reflection of Introitus’ last motif. However, while the first movement ends with the soloists, Metamorphosis makes place for the cellos’ and the double bass’ "tutti forte".
II. Metamorphosis
The second movement begins just as the reflection of Introitus’ last motif. However, while the first movement ends with the soloists, Metamorphosis makes place for the cellos’ and the double bass’ "tutti forte".
III. Canto
The third movement takes shape as the result of the first two. The mutual influence between Introitus and Metamorphosis leads to a synthesis where the two worlds, the micro - and the macrocosm (soloists and orchestra), unify to form a new dimension.
The third movement takes shape as the result of the first two. The mutual influence between Introitus and Metamorphosis leads to a synthesis where the two worlds, the micro - and the macrocosm (soloists and orchestra), unify to form a new dimension.
EpitaphE
2010 - Symphonic orchestra
EpitaphE (funerary inscription placed on a tombstone) is a work for an orchestra of strings, flutes, trumpet and percussion. The work was created in March 2010 in response to a tragic loss. The choice of French spelling, particularly of the last letter, reflects the person's initials. When you read the score, you can also decipher the person's name from the work's main theme.
Phantasia
2008 - Piano (four hands)
III String Quartet Perperuum
2007 - String Quartet
I Symphonia Tenebrae
2006 - Accordion, Mezzo-soprano, Bass & symphonic orchestra
Text: Paul Celan, Tenebrae, 1959
« Painless are we, and have almost lost our word in estrangement » Hölderlin
On my journey, always in search of meaning, I was deeply touched by the writings of Paul Celan. His work is made up of coded messages like a ‘bottle thrown into the sea’, as he himself put it, and it is this very aspect that struck me so deeply.
I felt it as if it were a perfect reflection of my own feelings. Over time, the desire to set his work to music was born in me, ostensibly and imperatively. Without any pretension whatsoever, I couldn't resist it and tried to decode the text using the means of music.
Les Chants Grenats
2005 - Tunes against war
Text by Gerald Chevrolet
A mother and father, Claire and Armand, talk to their child, Michaël (an imaginary child), about war in a Western country like Switzerland, where the phenomenon is usually only perceived through current events and media fiction. How do you explain the inexplicable and justify what cannot be explained?
Mister Money
2004 - Opera buffa
Libretto by Gerald Chevrolet
Inspiration: Hagop Baronian, Honorable Beggars, 1887
Reading Honorable Begagrs a farce written by the Armenian Hagop Baronian at the end 19th century, Gérald Chevrolet thought this text should become a libretto basis. This comedy is written and told by a crafty and playful narrator who introduces, interrupts, comments comical scenes, all based on the same dramatic construction : a beggar approaches a rich man who refuses (dithers), eventually accepts (letting the beggar win).
Aram
2003 - Cello solo
Composed in 2002 for solo cello, in memoriam Aram Khachaturian, the world première took place in Paris by Felix Simonian. The cantilena of the name ARAM is la for A, re for R, la for A, and mi for M. Since the music of Aram Khachaturian was omnipresent at our home, this work reminds me of my childhood archaic melodies.
Cellissimo Suite
1999 - four cellos
Liebesträume… ein Geschenk…
1999 - Harp & percussions
L'infinito
1998 - Mixed choir & orchestra
Text: Giacomo Leopardi, L'infinito, 1819
L’infinito, with a duration of 25 minutes, is the reflection of how Giacomo Leopardi’s work has inspired me. My research emphasizes on the most intimate fields. It gives a very soft and meditative music in which only one moment of 8 forte measures is distinguished. L’infinito is written for a 12 singer mixed chorus and a 12 instrumentalist orchestra. This parity is intentional because it demands both orchestral and soloist commitment, as a person and a group in the universe.
La fenice
1997 - Piano sonata
Dedicated to Brenno Ambrosini I owe the inspiration for this piece to Brenno Ambrosini, the great Venetian pianist. From the start, I wanted to create a work in which the fascinating city of Venice mingles with a nostalgic world ‘à la fin du siecle’.
Requiem
1996 - Choir & orchestra
It all begins with the ‘great temptation’ to compose a work which, although part of a very important tradition, leads the composer to draw inspiration from his own experience, or even to create his own music... a requiem.
Promethée XII
1994 - Opera
Text by Jean-Jacques Varoujeau
Perceiving history and its direct role as an educator led me to think about the conscious sacrifice of the individual in favour of an ideal.
Synopsis: After long years of oppression by a foreign power, the people of a God-forgotten region remember that they are one community and that every people has the right to self-determination. Inspired by their peers, they want to break with the imposed silence, the obligation to be restricted and dependent. Even the knowledge of the many bloodshed that had been spilled in the struggle for their autonomy, their own language and justice suddenly no longer prevented the people of this nation from speaking.
Synopsis: After long years of oppression by a foreign power, the people of a God-forgotten region remember that they are one community and that every people has the right to self-determination. Inspired by their peers, they want to break with the imposed silence, the obligation to be restricted and dependent. Even the knowledge of the many bloodshed that had been spilled in the struggle for their autonomy, their own language and justice suddenly no longer prevented the people of this nation from speaking.
3 Lieder
1993 - Soprano & piano
Text: Missak Medzarents (1886–1908), Giragmoudk / Bedros Tourian (1851-1872), Ar Guysn / Siamanto (1878-1915), Aravod
This piece is made of three songs, based after three titans of the western Armenian poetry. Giragmoudk was composed in 1978, inspired by Missak Medzarents’s work. Ar Guysn was composed in 1982, inspired by Bedros Tourian’s work. Aravod me noren was composed in 1993, inspired by Siamanto’s work. They are dedicated to my martyr friends. The three mystic poems represent:
- The eternal liaisons between humanity and infinity.
- Human sacrifices that are presented in the example of mother’s love.
- Surviving despite the dark periods.
- The faith in the physical and moral strength of humanity.
2 Bagatellen
1992 - Clarinet & piano
Modus
1989 - Mezzo-soprano & computer
The oldest musical instrument, the human voice, and the youngest, the computer with its infinite sound possibilities, come together in Modus to form a symbiosis. Modus is the result of the interaction of female voice, computer and texts by Friedrich W. Nietzsche, Novalis and Jean Jaques Varoujean.
Bewegungen
1987 - Synthesizer
Elegia
1987 - Violin solo
8 Variationen
1986 - Soprano solo
Sonate
1985 - Violin solo
Momente
1984 - Piano & violin
Fini, c’est fini
1982 - Singer & symphonic orchestra
Sonata für “M”
1981 - Piano sonata
Unser Weg
1981 - String quartet, percussions & piano
II String Quartet Lamento
1980 - String Quartet
Although this work is not based exclusively on a musical theme, its content is centred on a single idea: Lamento. The lament is organised in five very different ways. The first four movements (Andante, Allegro non troppo, Largo and Allegro energico) form a kind of antechamber. They are both preparation and explanation for the fifth and final movement, named Lamento.
7 Kinderstücke und Postlüd
1979 - Piano
Elegia
1978 - Cello solo
I String Quartet
1978 - String Quartet
This quartet for strings is structured in three movements: Moderato, Sostenuto and Allegro. Haig Vartan describes it as his first great adventure in an absolutely classical domain: chamber music. The structure of this work is based on the first four notes (e - c sharp - d - e flat) and contains counterpoint permutations inspired from Bach to Webern.
3 Miniatüren
1975 - Piano