ARMENIAN STATE CHAMBER CHOIR

Artistic Director and Principal Conductor: Robert Mlkeyan

The National Chamber Choir of Armenia (NCCA) was founded in 2000 and Maestro Robert Mlkeyan, an Honored Worker of Art of Armenia, was appointed as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the ensemble.
In 2006, the ensemble took part in the International Festival of Modern Music in Donizetti Opera Theatre in Bergamo, Italy, and performed several concerts in the White Hall and Catherine Palace in Saint Petersburg, thus summing up the Year of Armenian Culture in Russia. NCCA has toured in Argentina, Canada, Georgia, Greece, Lebanon, and UK.
On the 140th anniversary of Komitas’ birth, NCCA recorded two CDs at Saghmosavank Monastery, featuring selected sacred and secular choral works by the genius composer. In the same year, concerts were organized in the Gaveau Concert Hall and Saint-Louis Church in Paris, a concert-lecture was held at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of the World Cultures), Berlin, and concerts were held in Geneva and Zurich.
NCCA released its Ars Poetica CD on ECM Records in 2006, featuring the choral concert written by Tigran Mansurian which is based on ten poems by Yeghishe Charents. The CD was awarded a five-star rating by the World Music Council. The inclusion of the Ars Poetica CD in The Gramophone, a prestigious music catalogue which reports on the most outstanding classical CDs since 1923, may be considered one of the many significant achievements of the choir.
Over the years the choir has performed world premieres featuring compositions by Tigran Mansurian, David Halajian, Edward Hayrapetian and many others. Besides its frequent concerts and tours, NCCAparticipates in charity projects by performing in educational institutions in rural areas of Armenia to introduce the choral culture to a wider audience inthe country.