The sounds of ancient Armenia reinvented for the 21^st century: For »Songs of Exile«, John Hodian set the poems of 15^th century Armenian priest Mkrtich Naghash to music. The music of the American-Armenian composer connects the spirituality of traditional Armenian music with new classical music and the energy of jazz. John Hodian founded the Naghash Ensemble together with some of Armenia’s best musicians in 2010. Thre singers and four instrumentalists on the duduk, dumbek, dhol, oud and piano create new music that sounds foreign and familiar at the same time, earthly yet otherworldly.

John Hodian is a composer, conductor and pianist – and a musical globetrotter. His multiple award winning work includes more than 300 Soundtracks for feature films and documentaries, dance pieces, chamber music, music-theatre pieces and stage dramas. The story of the Naghash Ensemble started with soprano Hasmik Baghdasaryan, when John Hodian heard her interpretations of medieval Armenian spiritual music and knew: »I want to compose for this voice«. Soprano Tatevik Movesyan is one of the first performers of the works of contemporary Armenian composers. A graduate of the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, she also sings a broad opera and chamber repertoire. Arpine Ter-Petrosyan is the Naghash Ensemble’s youngest singer – and perhaps Armenia’s deepest female voice. The highly demanded singer is a graduate of the Khachatur Abovyan State Pedagogical University of Armenia. Harutyun Chkolyan is a multi-instrumentalist who has specialised in Armenian woodwind instruments such as the duduk, zurna, shvi and pku as well as the clarinet and ney flute. Tigran Hovhannisyan, who also performs with the Armenian National Orchestra and the national Folk Music Ensemble, plays the hand drums dumbek and dhol. Aram Nikoghosyan has been playing the oud since he was a child, won national competitions and awards from the Armenian ministry of culture and like his fellow ensemble members he is a successful and highly demanded musician.