On September 1, 2017 at 20:30, the world premiere of Haro Stepanyan’s epic opera “David of Sassoun” will be held outside of the Real School in Shushi. The world premiere will be held under the high patronage of First Lady of the Republic of Armenia Rita Sargsyan and with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia.

The performance is dedicated to Independence Day of Artsakh, the 25^th anniversary of the liberation of Shushi and Haro Stepanyan’s 120^th birth anniversary.

The creator and artistic director of the project is Sarine Avtandilyan, and the director is Suren Shahijanian (France).

Haro Stepanyan composed the opera “David of Sassoun” in 1936. The libretto was written by Derenik Demirtchyan and is based on the Armenian national epic “David of Sassoun”. With its unique musical language and spirit of the nation, the epic opera “David of Sassoun” marks a significant stage of development of Armenian opera. The first performance of the opera “David of Sassoun” in Artsakh is a major cultural event.

Composer Haro Stepanyan was born in 1897 in Elizavetpol (modern-day Gandzak). He is a WWI veteran. In 1919, he was a student of A. Ter-Ghevendyan for a year at Tbilisi State Conservatory, and in 1923, he got accepted to Mikhail Gnessin’s class at the Gnessin Music School of Moscow. Afterwards, he was a student of V. Shcherbakov at the Conservatory of Leningrad. From 1927 until the summer of 1929, Stepanyan participated in the campaign for the compilation of folk music organized by Kristafor Kushnaryan. Stepanyan and Kushnaryan wrote the musical notes for over 350 Armenian and Kurdish melodies in different regions of Armenia, especially in Shirak. In 1930, Stepanyan settled in Yerevan. He has composed five operas, three symphonies, as well as numerous songs and romances, chamber and instrumental music. Between 1930 and 1934, he was the director of the creative class at Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. Between 1938 and 1947, he was the director of the Union of Composers of Armenia. In 1938, he was elected Deputy of the Supreme Council of Armenia. In 1960, he received the title of People’s Artist of Armenia.