On April 30 and May 1, 2016, the leadership of Germany’s Dresden Philharmonic held the “Catastrophe” concert series dedicated to the anniversary and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The concert series was held with the same title and according to the same program in Berlin in November 2015, but this time the concerts were held in Dresden and Brandenburg. The concerts include performances of Turkish composer Zeynap Gedizlioglu’s “Notes from the Silent” for the orchestra, the “Surgite Gloriae” viola concerto for the duduk, diskant, baritone and orchestra by Vache Sharafyan from Armenia and German composer Helmut Ohring’s “Appeal to Erdogan-It Was Genocide” composed for the guitar, a choir and orchestra.

As reported Hayern Aysor, the concerts also feature performances by musicians from Armenia (from the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia), as well as Turkey and Serbia. The soloists are violist Matthias Vorm, dudukist Arayik Bakhtikyan, singer Karl Timt, guitarist Mark Sina, choirmasters Andrea Molino and Premil Petrovich. The program is organized by Marcus Rind, Mark Sina, Ben Dice and Teresa Menzel.

This time, a day before the concerts, President of Turkey Erdogan addressed the Nations Commission of the European Union with the demand to not fund the concerts and prohibit them, but the concerts were a great success and were held with the same title thanks to the active efforts of the orchestra’s leadership and musicians and the active participation of the people. The commission of European countries decided to replace the word “Genocide” with the word “Genocide”, meaning leaving it unchanged, affirming its willingness to acknowledge and condemn “The Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey.”

On April 29, director Tom Kuas and German children also staged the play “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” (with music by V. Sharafyan) with the Dresden Philharmonic at Hillerau Hall.

This fall, the Dresden Philharmonic plans on giving the  “Catastrophe” concerts with the same title and content in Serbia, Armenia and Turkey.

The concerts in Armenia will be held through the cooperation with and with the participation of the National Chamber Orchestra of Yerevan.