Holland Festival – The Bird of a Thousand Voices – Tigran Hamasyan, Ruben van Leer, Boris Acket, Areni Agbabian

Groundbreaking multimedia projects

The virtuoso jazz-meets-rock pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan won an important prize at North Sea Jazz and was chosen International Artist of the Year 2021 in Germany. He ingeniously merges his compositions and improvisations with traditional music from his native Armenia, to which he has returned from the United States.

For The Bird of a Thousand Voices, he collaborates with Ruben van Leer, known for his beautiful, groundbreaking multimedia projects, and with visual artist Boris Acket, who is responsible for the audiovisual decor. With Hamasyan's brand new piano music, Areni Agbabian's angelic singing voice and an interactive light installation, the myth that has fascinated Hamasyan since childhood comes to life.

The mythological bird exists in many cultures and often symbolizes recovery and awareness. In the Armenian tradition, his power lies in his songs. To find the Bird of a Thousand Voices, you must first travel "the path without return" through black, white and red worlds with endless deserts, cold mountain winters, turbulent rivers and haunted by curses, betrayal and forty-headed demons...'

'This story tells me that if we want to change the world, we all have to change individually. This typical Armenian story remained less known for a long time, but I think it is high time to present this specific story, with its universal message of spiritual awakening, to the world.'

- Tigran Hamasyan