For Immediate Release
January 27, 2011

HAYASTAN ALL-ARMENIAN FUND MODERNIZES TCHAIKOVSKY SCHOOL’S MUSIC LIBRARY

NEW YORK, New York — The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has begun renovating and modernizing the music library of the Tchaikovsky School, Armenia’s only music high school, located in Yerevan. Initiated and financed by the Fund’s Swiss affiliate, the project includes the provision of state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment as well as new instruments, which number seven violins, two French horns, two violas, one cello, and two oboes.

In addition to its extensive collection of recordings, the music library features rehearsal studios for students as well as classrooms.

	Young musicians of Armenia’s venerable Tchaikovsky School in Yerevan, Armenia’s only music high school

“As we’ve had to contend with Soviet-era instruments for so many years, we’re overjoyed that the library will see a major upgrade thanks to our diaspora friends,” says Martun Konstandyan, the school’s principal. “We’re also gratified that the project will result in the restarting of our French horn classes, after a 20-year hiatus.”

Students of the school expressed great enthusiasm at the prospect of studying and rehearsing in a modernized facility and with access to new instruments. Senior student Armen Karagyan said he believes he not only stands a good chance of not only winning the wind-instrument competition this spring, but eventually of being admitted to the prestigious Komitas Conservatory.

The Tchaikovsky School was established in 1939 and its alumni include many of Armenia’s most renowned musicians. According to Konstandyan, the school currently has 530 students, most of whom will go on to study at the Komitas Conservatory. The principal added that, as a rule, some 80 percent of the conservatory’s students are graduates of the Tchaikovsky School.

“The library-renovation project, sponsored by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Swiss affiliate, is an improvement of vital importance,” said Ara Vardanyan, executive director of the Fund. “Thanks to the initiative, our young musicians will have a wonderful facility for rehearsals and classes, the high quality of which will no doubt prepare them for success across the world’s greatest stages.”

ABOUT ARMENIA FUND USA: founded in 1992, was one of the first of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s 20 international affiliates and serves constituents in all states east of the Mississippi. As a non-profit, non-governmental, nonsectarian organization, the Fund represents all Armenian constituents, supporting strategic infrastructure projects in Armenia and Karabakh. The Fund has adopted a policy to go “Beyond Bricks and Mortar” to provide sustainability for projects it sponsors.

To learn more about Armenia Fund USA, please visit our website at
www.ArmeniaFundUSA.org or call us at 212-689-5307.