President hands Motherland Order to Armenia’s National Hero Hovhannes Chekidjian

The Presidency hosted a ceremonious event to award the Order of Motherland to RA People’s Artist, National Academic Choir Director Hovhannes Chekidjian.

During the event, People’s Artist of Armenia, Surb Mesrop Mashtotz Order Laureate Tigran Mansuryan presented the biography of Hovhannes Chekidjian, his creative path and achievements, episodes from his memoirs, which best describe Maestro Chekijian.

The President congratulated the renowned intellectual and wished him robust health and every success on behalf of the entire Armenian people and handed in the Order of Motherland for outstanding personal contribution to culture, as well as for exceptional services rendered to the Armenian people.

At the award ceremony, President Sargsyan addressed Hovhannes Chekidjian with congratulatory remarks.

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Tigran Mansuryan’s remarks at the Award and Tribute Ceremony for National Hero of the Republic of Armenia Hovhannes Chekidjian

Distinguished Mr. President,
Dear Maestro,
Distinguished statesmen,
Dear colleagues, friends,

On this glorious day, it is a great honor for me to make two opening remarks about our actual - not metaphorical - truly national hero. In 1961, the border crossed over its past and present-day activities, which led to a wonderful start to its musical reality with his talent, experience, family achievements. It was really a glorious start and so consistent that sometimes I wonder how come a man is as much consistent and goal-oriented, when every episode has its own cost, its value, and every significant thing has its place and volume, there is an accurate attitude for each.

And this whole kingdom is music, from this point of view it is the human image, this kind of relationship is music. And therefore, I want to remember two episodes at this moment. As Aram Khachatryan was being filmed in the heart of Yerevan, he was painting a great deal of his “Dignity of Happiness” written for the orchestra, great choir, soloists and other instruments. And here, I witnessed Aram Khachatryan-Hovhannes Chekidjian collaboration, which was the heart of a whole Armenian music at that moment, where the great master and our present hero recorded the “Tree of Happiness.” It was really nice to see both of them around.

The second episode I wish to recall happened several years later: Chekidjian is in Los Angeles, he clarifies issues of the Armenian community, apparently, there should be a concert, and in the evening he is in the reception hall. After a wonderful speech and presentation to the Maestro, there are former colleagues, elderly people who demand the rise of the stage once again in their lives and sing with maestro. It was a beautiful moment to see. Older people have been on the stage for the years they have been working in the chapel. There was not a great number of singers and singers, but it was a sound, it was a song, it was a really musical act. It seems as if the military commander and soldiers had met years after the war, knowing each other very well. They understand half a point where to get to. It was really a very nice manifestation of human characteristics first to members of this choir who remained loyal to their maestro, and the maestro's attitude towards these musicians. I would like to remember these two episodes from past years. Today’s congratulatory message lays out many of its thousands, thousands of listeners, if all the auditoriums of these years are remembered worldwide. It is also a feeling of appreciation for colleagues who have worked with him and are working in the Conservatory today as well.

The joy of our colleagues today is that of many partners. And, of course, it is an exceptional phenomenon, as the present and the current reality, the representative of academic music, the patriarch of today’s Armenian music is proclaimed as a national hero. It is really a serious step towards the development of these years of Armenian national music, a greatest step. The point is that the real thing is that it is time to dispose of it so that the first hero should not be from the music industry, not from music, but rather from the academic institution that is called choir.

The choir is the beginning, the main root of all classical music, from the church, past church, and today it is so. Komitas laid that foundation in us, which remained insurmountable as a work of art, Komitas choral thinking. And today, in this glorious reality, the representative of this world is honored. Of course, we have instrumental musicians who have elevated our instrumental music all over the world. Suffice it to remember Aram Khachatryan, Babajanyan and Mirzoyan. But here comes the period of independence and it is necessary to reconsider the past, and whenever the past is revised, it is very organic and very natural when Komitas Museum-Institute opens after Aram Khachaturian’s house-museum. It is so symbolic from the perspective of Armenia, the reality of the new Armenia, the musical reality. And this is the same continuation today, the organic continuation, this ceremony, when the hero is proclaimed.

You know, by surprising regularity, we could not call Hovhannes Chekidjian a master, though he himself is a master and with his life experience, age, and all the traditions of the law, but indeed he has a young spirit and so far we have not been able to tell him master, we call him Maestro.

I wish this spirit, the youth spirit, to continue. A few days ago, a concert was held, a jubilee concert. I was afraid, it was such an active movement to emphasize this or that chord that I was afraid that suddenly the legs would not slip, but I could see that the Maestro was stingy, as much as maestro.

I cordially congratulate you Maestro. You have always been a leader for us, and today you will first of all serve the roots, the sacraments, the values, the statehood, the Armenian spirit, the devious tone. because he preferred to serve. In order for you to serve, the Maestro must have his own autonomy.

There were two major organizations in Armenia - the Union of Armenian Composers, an important ideological and artistic organization, but there was also the choir company called to handle this whole thing. Chekijian worked perfectly with both one and the other, giving examples of excellent cooperation in the middle, but surprisingly preferred to remain alone, at the beginning of his work, and today, the result of this autonomy, solving his own problems, making this decision and the internal plan body.

I cordially congratulate you, I am glad for Armenian music, I am happy for the spirit of Komitas who brought his son to the title of national hero. I am deeply grateful to you, Mr. President. Dear friends, let us wish further achievements in Armenian music and Hovhannes Chekidjian’s artistic activities.
 

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Statement by President Serzh Sargsyan at the ceremony of tribute and awarding Hovhannes Chekidjian

Dear Maestro Chekijyan,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today we honor Hovhannes Chekidjian who was awarded the title of National Hero of the Republic of Armenia and to whom I am honored to hand the Order of Motherland.
This is a blessing for me, and I am sure - for everyone else - because we have been the contemporary of Hovhannes Chekidjian. Maestro Tigran Mansuryan already talked about our hero’s life story and told us some episodes. Talking about Maestro Chekidjian is both easy and difficult.

It is easy because he has lived an exceptional rich and fruitful creative life; he has covered a path worthy of admiration and gratitude. It is easy to introduce him as he has long been presenting himself to us and to the whole world.

Yet, it is difficult to present Maestro Hovhannes Chekidjian as it is almost impossible to explain the huge energy that exists in this noble intellectual. The energy he has been sharing with his surroundings for many decades. That energy disseminates the idea of good and the beauty of humanity and eternity: all the best that is national and at the same time universal.

Dear Friends,

Many Armenians are repatriates or their descendants. This is a very inclusive topic, and now, perhaps, I will not go around it. I would only say that the repatriates brought a lot to Armenia, starting with our daily routine and lifestyle.

Among them there were exceptional intellectuals who have embodied an entire epoch in Armenian reality. The return of Martiros Saryan, Alexander Tamanyan, Gohar Gasparyan, Hakob Hakobyan and many others was an example of how to return to Homeland, strong with ambitious programs, great faith in tomorrow’s day and, most importantly, forever. Hovhannes Chekijian is one of these exceptional examples.

Any great artist’s path to success cannot not smooth and calm. We know that even a small achievement implies hard work of years, creative and noble suffering. Especially this is the case with the individuals who have achieved great success.

The great victories of the Armenian choir art on the most prestigious stages of the world speak for Hovhannes Chekidjian’s exceptional strictness and high standards. They point to his titanic work. Maestro, we bow before your great merit and creative deeds.

Dear Mr. Chekidjian,

You have directed the National Academic Choir of Armenia since 1961. Many of today’s Armenian citizens were not yet born at that time. However, everyone knows you thanks to your enormous work. And let everyone know that we are just coming to this world with such heroes.

I sincerely congratulate you on being awarded the highest title of Homeland. On behalf of our people, I wish you good health and every success in your activities. I wish the tenth decade of your life could be no less productive than the previous ones.

We see this power in you, that energy, and that it is very important – the love for life. This is a key factor. You must live and work for the sake of the Armenian art.

Long live Armenia! Long live the heroes of the Republic of Armenia!

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Armenia’s National Hero Hovhannes Chekidjian expressed his gratitude for such a high award, noting that he would hold it with love, pride and great responsibility.

”My heart is full of joy. This is unexplainable. Although I have received awards in the Kremlin, Paris, and elsewhere, but none of my prizes were so high; that is the country’s highest award. For the first time, I receive the highest award of the country thanks to our beloved President, who gave me this surprise. It was a surprise for me when we were bidding farewell to the year 2017 on December 30, the President announced that he had signed an order. I did not understand what happened to me, my heart blazed or it did not blaze, and there was an unexpected joy.

Yes, for a long time and for a couple of decades, I have worked with this Choir, and not in vain. We have had great success on many stages in the world, but I would never have thought that one day such a high award could come to me. My age is quite good, but as you can see, I am not as old as that.

Let me not talk long. My heart is full, as I said. There are few people like me. Believe me that being the 17th most merited Armenian is not an easy thing. I shall bear that weight with love, pride and great responsibility. This obliges me. Thank you very much,” Maestro Hovhannes Chekidjian said.