Geghard Vocal Ensemble

The Geghard Vocal Ensemble was founded in 2001 by the conductor and soprano Anahit Papayan, as a female choir at the medieval Geghard Monastery. The ensemble’s artistic director is the musicologist Mher Navoyan, who has been awarded the title of Honoured Worker of Art by the Armenian Republic. The Geghard Vocal Ensemble is resident ensemble at the Komitas Museum-Institute.

The Ensemble’s particular focus is on traditional Armenian monodies, both in their original form and in new arrangements. The Ensemble also performs works by both Armenian and other European composers. The Geghard Ensemble has a busy touring programme, and so far has given concerts in Germany, Austria, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Poland, Italy, Belgium, Lebanon, Russia and Sweden.

International festivals in which the Geghard Ensemble has participated include the Caucasus Festival at Hamburg’s famous Elbphilharmonie (2018), the Voix et Route Romane Festival in Strasbourg (2018), the Salzburg Festival (2016), the Moscow Easter Festival (2015), the International Academy of Sacred Music in St Petersburg (2014), the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut (2013), the Musica Sacra International Festival in Marktoberdorf (2012), Les Sacrées Journées de Strasbourg (2011), International Festival of Orthodox Church Music Hajnówka in Poland, where it won first prize (2010), the Kolozhsky Blagovest Festival of Orthodox Songs in Grodno, Belarus, where it won the Grand Prix (also 2010) and the Musikfest of the International Bachakademie in Stuttgart (2009). Since 2011 the Geghard Ensemble has also participated in Armenian Cultural Week in Stuttgart. In 2008 it performed in a concert series at St Nicholas’s Church in Prague.

Since 2002 a fruitful working partnership has been established between the UNESCO Foundation world cultural heritage site Lorsch Abbey and the Geghard Ensemble, also based at a UNESCO world cultural heritage site. In 2018 the Ensemble became the official ambassadors of the UNESCO Foundation world cultural heritage site at Lorsch Abbey.

The Geghard Vocal Ensemble has so far released four CDs: Armenian Music (2002), Armenian Altar (2005), Mystery Deep (2013) and a recording of a concert at Maulbronn Abbey, Voices from Armenia (2018).