The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center will present Narek Arutyunian, clarinet, accompanied by Mariko Furukawa, piano, 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, at ArtPlay, the Alys Stephens Center’s home for arts education, 1006 19th St. South.
The updated program will include Jacob Weinberg’s “Hebrew Melodies in the form of a Suite”; Clarinet Sonata, Op. 167 by Camille Saint-Saens; Robert Schumann’s “3 Romances,” Op. 94; Marius Constant’s “For Clarinet”; and Paul Schoenfield’s “Sonatina for Klezmer, clarinet and piano.”
This performance is part of the Patty McDonald ArtPlay Parlor Series featuring Young Concert Artists. Tickets are $37.50; beverages and hors d’oeuvres are included. For tickets, call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.
Arutyunian is an artist whom The Washington Post declared “reaches passionate depths with seemingly effortless technical prowess and beguiling sensitivity.” Arutyunian’s career is growing by leaps and bounds. As a winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International auditions, he was presented in YCA’s Rhoda Walker Teagle New York debut concert at Merkin Hall and at the Kennedy Center to rave reviews.
Born in 1992 in Gyumri, Armenia, Arutyunian’s family moved to Moscow when he was 3 years old. He graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory, where he worked with Evgeny Petrov. By age 16 he had already won first prizes in the International Young Musicians Competition in Prague and the Musical Youth of the Planet Competition in Moscow. Arutyunian has performed in Australia, Asia and Europe, where he appeared at the Louvre in Paris and the Palazzo del Principe in Genoa. He appeared as soloist with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and in Russia with the Kaliningrad Philharmonic, the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra. Arutyunian also performed in Tokyo and Beijing at the 2013 Young Concert Artists festivals. He lives in New York City, and works with Charles Neidich at The Juilliard School. His clarinet is a personal gift from the conductor and violinist Vladimir Spivakov.
ArtPlay will present Arutyunian in a Meet the Artist On the Road school show at Bush Hills Academy K-8. This residency is made possible in part by the Annaliese Soros Educational Residency Fund of Young Concert Artists.