An Armenian Evening with MENA

Hasmik was born in 1991 in Yerevan, Armenia. At the age of 11 she moved with her family to St. Petersburg, Russia. After graduating from the medical faculty of St. Petersburg State University, she decided to follow her passion for film, applied and was accepted to the directing department of Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). With her passion for storytelling and her unique perspective on the world, Hasmik's films capture the essence of the human experience. She continues to create thought-provoking films that inspire and challenge audiences.

The music of guitarist and composer Aram Bajakian music has been called “a masterpiece” (fRoots, July 2017), “shape-shifting” (FreeJazzCollective, January 2017), and “sometimes delicate, sometimes punishing” (Chicago Reader, January 2018). As a guitarist, “the virtuosic jack of all trades” (Village Voice, May 2015) has toured extensively with Lou Reed, Diana Krall, Madeleine Peyroux, and John Zorn, in performing at many of the world’s greatest venues, including Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Acropolis, L’Olympia, as well as the Montreaux, Newport, Monterey and Antibes jazz festivals, among others. From 2018-2021 Bajakian served as the New Music Curator at Western Front in Vancouver, one of Canada’s leading artist-run centers for contemporary art and new music. Bajakian is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Ethnomusicology at UBC where his research focuses on the role of music in contemporary and historic Armenian communities.

Kevork Mourad was born in Kameshli Syria, received his degree from the Yerevan institute of Fine Art, and now lives in New York. A painter and video artist, he has had his animated and live visuals performed around the world--at the Spoleto Festival in SC 2022), Korea National Opera in Seoul (2020), National Cathedral in DC (2020), Dutch Royal Palace for the Prince Claus Foundation (2016), Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC (2018, 2012, 2010), Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (2018), Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA (2018), ElbPhilharmonie in Hamburg (2017), Tanglewood in MA (2016), National Sawdust in NYC (2016), MuCEM in Marseille (2015, 2013), The Round Tower of Copenhagen, (2013), and Lincoln Center in NYC (2012), among many others. His work is in the permanent collection of Paris's Institut du Monde Arabe and the Spurlock Museum. The 2016 recipient of the Robert Bosch Stiftung prize, he created the short film Four Acts for Syria. A member for two decades of the Silkroad ensemble, he is one of the artists featured in the documentary The Music of Strangers, directed by Morgan Neville. He has exhibited in galleries around the US, Europe and the Middle East, including the Asia Society Triennial in 2020, the Spurlock Museum, Illinois,(2020), the Paris Art Fair, (2019), the Rose Art Gallery, Boston (2017), the Claude Lemand Gallery, Paris (2016), Kuchling Galerie in Berlin (2019), and Tabari Art Space, Dubai, (2019). He is represented by Galerie Tanit, Beirut, and Studio La Cittá, Verona.

Alan Semerdjian is an award-winning writer, musician, and lifelong educator from New York, NY. He released An Improvised Device (Lock N Load Press/Gathering of the Tribes) in 2005, In the Architecture of Bone (Genpop Books) in 2009, and The Serpent and the Crane (bandcamp) in 2020 with guitarist/composer Aram Bajakian. Additionally, Alan has recorded, released, and turned in support for several critically-acclaimed collections of music across a range of genres over the last three decades. He is on the advisory board for the International Armenian Literary Alliance, through which he founded and directs the Young Armenian Poets Awards.