After Scandal, Armenian Cellist Awarded First Prize in Tchaikovsky Competition

Armenian national Narek Hakhnazaryan was awarded the gold medal and first prize in cello in the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

The award ceremony was held on the evening of Jun. 30 at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and broadcast live on the competition’s official website.

Other winners include Russia’s Daniil Trifonov (first prize in piano), Russia’s Sergey Dogadin (second prize in violin — note, no first prize was awarded in this category), Israel’s Itamar Zorman (second prize, violin), South Korea’s Sun Young Seo (first prize in vocals, female) and South Korea’s Jong Min Park (first prize in vocals, male).

As previously reported, at rehearsals on Jun. 25, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra) and National Artist of Russia Mark Gorenstein told the orchestra: “Don’t let it concern you at all what this talent, this aul [a small village in the mountains; meant to indicate lack of respect] presented to us is playing. Your task is to play what is written there in the score and to do it with me.” This statement offended journalists who were at the recital, after which the story gained public attention.

This was followed by an official statement on the competition website which stated that the organizing committee considered Gorenstein’s remarks to be insulting. Hakhnazaryan subsequently received an apology from the conductor.

“I would like to explain my position regarding the incident,” Gorenstein told Itar-Tass. “First, it was a conversation within the team. Second, I assure you, I neither conveyed nor did I wish to convey any nationalist undertones in my remarks, since that is totally foreign both to me personally and to our team… I am very sorry about what happened and I offer my sincere apologies to all those who I hurt with my words,’ said Gorenstein.