“Hover” State Chamber Choir
“Hover” State Chamber Choir is open to all manifestations of chamber choral genre.
The choir appeared in prestigious concert halls and on the stages of “Teatro Dal Verme” (Italy), “Тhéâtre Nanterre-Amandiers”, “Cité de la Musique”, “Le Quartz” (France), “Strathmore Hall”, “Carnegie Hall”, Lincoln Center – Alice Tully Hall” (USA), National Theater and Concert Hall of Taipei (Taiwan), The State Hermitage Museum's Hall (Russia) and others.
The choir initiated different choral-theatrical performances, large-scale vocal-symphonic, operatic and chamber traditional as well as experimental projects as staging of the Dance songs by Komitas, choral-theatrical performances “6 Fables”, “The Parallel”, adapted version of “Anoush” opera, non-traditional arrangements of folk songs of Aparan region in cooperation with Vahagn Hayrapetyan Trio, and participated in different regional and Artsakh projects. The choir permanently collaborates with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra (ANPO), the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia (NCOA), the State Symphony Orchestra of Armenia, (SSOA) the “Yerevan Perspectives”, “Golden Apricot”, “Komitas”, “Aram Khachaturian” festivals as well as with a number of other orchestras, choirs and festivals in Armenia. In cooperation with Eduard Topchjan and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra “Hover” choir has realized the staging of dozens of operas (“Eugene Onegin”, “Tosca”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, “Madame Batterfly”, “I Pagliacci”, “La Boheme”, “Arstvaberd”, "Il Tabarro" and others.
"Hover" took part in recording soundtracks to a number of movies including “Ararat”, (director A. Egoyan) “La masseria delle Allodole” (The Lark Farm) – directors Taviani brothers, “Namus” (restored version of Arte studio), “Tevanik” (director J. Avetisyan), “The Promise” (director Terry George), as well as in the musical arrangement of “Pepo” performance (music by V. Sharafyan).
The choir has recorded 7 CDs.
The choir appeared with concerts in Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Russia, Poland, Taiwan, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, USA, Lebanon, Switzerland and Slovenia. It has taken part in a number of international choral competition and festivals in Linz (Austria), “Gaude Mater”, “Logos”, “Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival” (Poland), “Festival van Vlaanderen” (Belgium), “MIDEM”, Valery Gergiev's Easter Festival, “Просветитель” (Russia), "Spiritual Music Festival of South Ural" (Russia), “Polyfollia” (France), “La Fabbrica del Canto”, “Südtirol”, “Les Sacrees Journees” (Italy), “MustonenFest” (Estonia), “The International Music Festival of Sion Valais” (Switzerland), “Emilia-Romagna” (Slovenia), “Beiteddine Art Festival” (Lebanon), and “RheinVokal festival” (Germany). The Choir participated in the Gala Concert of Francophonie Summit (Armenia).
Hover's performances of compositions by S. Gubaidulina, R. Shchedrin, K. Penderecki, G. Kancheli as well as a number of other prominent contemporary composers have gained great appreciation. Hover State Chamber Choir has appeared with a number of prominent musicians and composers, among them G. Kremer, A. Mustonen, R. Shervenikas, D. Geringas, J. Nelson, M. Klauza, B. Kutavičius, L. Shambadal, F. Helgath, A. Bocelli, T. Gurtu.
In 2020 the Choir carried out two projects financed by the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. As a result of the project “Serndeserund” (“From generation to generation”) 5 short movies were filmed based on 4 chorals by Komitas and 1 vocalise (by composer Armen Boyamyan). The activities of the second project called “Pure and simple things” (musical performance written for piano and choir), which is a large-scale project, are still underway (composer Vache Sharafyan, conductor Sona Hovhannisyan, soloist A. Babakhanyan, director N. Malyan, project manager A. Kocharyan).
In 2020 Hover Choir took part in a number of online concerts including online fundraising concert organized by the Armenian Institute of London.
Hover State Chamber Choir was awarded a Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia. In 2017 the choir celebrated its 25th Anniversary.
Hover State Chamber Choir has been founded and conducted by Professor of Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory (YKSC), Acting Rector of YKSC since November 2018, Honored Worker of Art of the Republic of Armenia Sona Hovhannisyan.
Sona Hovhannisyan
Sona Hovhannisyan was born in 1963 in Yerevan.
She studied at Sayat-Nova Music School and continued her music education at Yerevan State Music College after Romanos Melikyan and the Department of Conducting at the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas. During her student years she worked at 119 secondary school, Aesthetic Center and was the conductor of “Hayren” and “Hallelujah” choirs.
Since 1996 Ms Hovhannisyan has been a Lecturer at the State Conservatory.
In 1992 with her own initiative and efforts Sona Hovhannisyan founded Hover Chamber Choir, which was granted a state status in 2009.
Headed by Sona Hovhannisyan Hover Choir has initiated and implemented a number of experimental choral performances, premiers of Armenian choral music. The choir appeared with concerts in Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Taiwan, Belgium, USA, Baltic states and a number of other countries. Hover has taken part in a number of international choral competition and festivals. The choir appeared in prestigious concert halls and on the stages of “Teatro Dal Verme” (Italy), “Тhéâtre Nanterre-Amandiers”, “Cité de la Musique”, “Le Quartz” (France), “Strathmore Hall”, “Carnegie Hall”, Lincoln Center – Alice Tully Hall” (USA), National Theater and Concert Hall of Taipei (Taiwan) and others.
The Choir has cooperated with the prominent composers like S. Gubaidulina, R. Shchedrin, K. Penderecki, G. Kancheli, A. Mustonen, D. Geringas and has been the first performer of works by famous Armenian composers E. Mirzoyan, V. Sharafyan, A. Avanesov, A. Azizyan, E. Yerkanyan, A. Voskanyan.
The core of creative activities of Hover Choir and its Conductor Sona Hovhannisyan was and remains the choral heritage of Armenian great musicologist and composer Komitas with its full spiritual and secular volume including "Armenian Holy Mass" ("Patarag") written for male choir.
Hover has always cooperated with a number of Armenian and foreign orchestras and choirs. It has carried out dozens of operas with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, has recorded 6 CDs, 2 DVDs, soundtracks for several movies and theatrical performances.
In 2008 Sona Hovhannisyan was awarded the Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia and in 2010 she was granted the title of Honored Worker of Art of Armenia.
According to the words of Sona Hovhannisyan, since the day of the foundation of Hover Choir her biography and the biography of the Choir are identical.
Branch manager: Nelli Shishmanyan