Events in Riga, dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of Komitas and the 104th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

22 April, 2019

On the occasion of the 104th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the 150th birth anniversary of Komitas a concert was held at Riga Dome Cathedral on April 22. The event was organized by the Embassy of Armenia to Latvia that invited honored artist of Armenia, soprano Hasmik Papyan and pianist Armine Grigoryan, director of the Aram Khachaturian museum to perform a joint concert.

The event was attended by Ambassadors accredited to Latvia, representatives of the Latvian legislative and executive authorities, members of the Latvian-Armenian Parliamentary Friendship Group as well as public, political and cultural figures, journalists and representatives of the Armenian community.

Ambassador of Armenia to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan delivered opening remarks noting that this year Armenians all over the world celebrate the 150th anniversary of the great Armenian composer Komitas, thus this event is special as the anniversary of Komitas is marked in the context of the Genocide commemoration. Ambassador Mkrtchyan mentioned that Komitas was himself a victim, perhaps the most symbolic victim of the Armenian genocide, who was not killed in 1915 as were 1.5 million Armenians, yet he stopped reacting and creating and for 20 years he waited for death to come in the Paris Psychiatric Hospital. Ambassador Mkrtchyan also pointed out that Armenians are still waiting for justice that will start only with acknowledgement of what happened, with calling the tragedy by its name - genocide.

In conclusion, Tigran Mkrtchyan expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Culture of Armenia and representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the Baltic countries Ter Khosrov Stepanyan as well as other partners for supporting the event.

After the concert, the Armenian Genocide memorial wall created in 2005 by sculptor and painter Varuzhan Karapetyan was re-opened on the ground floor of the Blackheads House. The artwork is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide - 90 glass flowers symbolize 90 years after the Genocide (1915-2005).

On April 23, marking the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the opening ceremony of the exhibition of books about Armenia took place at the Library of the University of Latvia on the initiative of the University leadership and the Embassy of Armenia in Latvia.

In her welcoming remarks vice-rector of the University of Latvia Ina Druviete thanked the Embassy of Armenia for close cooperation and noted that these books are very significant as they provide assistance to all of us in getting acquainted with the Armenian history, art and culture as well as having full understanding of the Armenian Genocide to evaluate historical events correctly.

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