On the UCLA Promise Institute for Human Rights YouTube channel.
PRESENTERS
DR. LERNA EKMEKCIOGLU, McMillan-Stewart Associate Professor of History, MIT
DR. MELISSA BILAL, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Center for Near Eastern Studies and Lecturer in the Department of Ethnomusicology, UCLA
Dr. Lerna Ekmekcioglu and Dr. Melissa Bilal will follow the story of a friendship between two Armenian women in Istanbul that endured the hardships of WWI, the Armenian Genocide, and early republican Turkey’s repressive minority politics. Hayganush Mark was the leading Armenian feminist writer of her time and Koharig Ghazarosian was a prominent composer, concert pianist, and piano teacher active in Paris and Istanbul. Their intertwined lives can be traced in photographs, letters, and pages of sheet music.
Internationally acclaimed actress, filmmaker, and writer Nora Armani, mezzo-soprano Danielle Segen of the Vem Ensemble, and internationally renowned pianist Steven Vanhauwaert performed and recorded Ghazarosian’s song settings of Mark’s poetry to be premiered at this event. Through this repertoire which was brought back to life as a part of their ongoing project Feminism in Armenian: An Interpretive Anthology and Digital Archive, Bilal and Ekmekcioglu will discuss the ruptures and continuities in Armenian community life in Turkey.
ORGANIZERS
UCLA Promise Institute for Human Rights
UCLA Promise Armenian Institute
UCLA Armenian Music Program
CO-SPONSORS
Armenian Museum of America
UCLA Center for the Study of Women
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies
UCLA Armenian Law Students’ Association
Society for Armenian Studies (SAS)
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)