Name: Haig Utidjian
Place of birth: Nicosia, Cyprus
Your occupation/work/profession: Orchestral and opera conductor, musicologist, scholar
Your family roots: Constantinople, Smyrna/Alexandria, Alexandrette (Cilicia), Cyprus (from at least C18)
How and why did you get involved with AI? I offered Susan Pattie - a friend of long standing - the possibility of my delivering a lecture, at short notice, in June 2019, when I happened to be in London for other reasons - it was graciously accepted. Something similar happened via zoom earlier this year, with my second lecture. Teaching a course for the AI was almost an unintended by-product of these events.
Tell us a special memory about AI: My one and only visit to the AI (and this was still in the earlier site at the Gulbenkian Hall, adjacent to the Church of St. Sarkis) was for my own lecture for the AI in the flesh last year, for a very select audience indeed - and we had great fun chatting, singing and reminiscing afterwards!
What are 2 or 3 of the most memorable AI events you have attended: I have enjoyed all the lectures and discussions I have been able to follow in recent months - particularly those by Levon Chilinigirian and Aram Kerovpyan. I am hoping to catch up with others I sadly missed - such as with Christina Maranci and others.
What are your hopes and ambitions for AI; where do you see its future? It is delightful to see the AI develop and I am sure it will go from height to height. I do hope that zoom sessions and the possibility of allowing people to take part from geographically disparate locations will continue even after, God willing, we overcome the present pandemic. I think that, on the one hand, there is potential for the AI to become something like a small Open University for all good things Armenian; and on the other, there is enormous potential to reach people via youtube and the like. Indeed, I myself set up a new channel myself a few weeks ago, under my own name, to place recent lectures and presentations thereon, as well as excerpts from my own concerts. One soon discovers that far more people watch these things over the weeks and months after the live events than attended at the time. Naturally, mass appeal is not what the AI should be about, but nor ought one to hide the treasures of which we are the unworthy heirs - so it behoves us to make them accessible to all if at all possible. Personally, I hope to learn more about the rather splendid library the AI possesses, and have been fantasising about teaching Armenian hymns remotely to interested colleagues all over the world via the AI platform, to help prepare a new generation of singers and musicians - but time will tell!
Which languages do you speak? Armenian (new and old), English, Greek (new and old), Czech, French, a smattering of Italian; but admittedly I cannot claim to "speak" the older languages...
Favourite book: I must mention several. In no particular order: Eco's "The Island of the Day Before", Calvino's "Invisible Cities" (both in William Weaver's wonderful English translations), the catalogue "Armenia: Imprints of a Civilization", the marvellous Kyurkchyan/Khatcherian album "Armenian Ornamental Art", the works of St. Gregory of Narek (in the millennial edition by Abp. Zareh Aznaworean of blessed memory, published by the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia), the Corpus Areopagiticum (preferably in the original but the best English translations are those by the Shrine of Wisdom), Homer (if poss. in the original, but the verse translation by the Mekhitarist Father, Arsén Awetik'ean is itself a masterpiece) and Thucydides (the best English translation of the latter is that by Crawley), my Ricordi pocket editions of the Beethoven and Brahms symphonies, my Փոքրիկներու Ժամագիրք that I continue to consider the most user-friendly edition, and the Tntesean Hymnal, which I was lucky to acquire in Constantinople less than ten years ago, and which changed my life!
Favourite film: The French Lieutenant's Woman
Favourite music/musician/band: This deserves to be addressed category by category!
Music: Monteverdi Vespers of 1610, Bach Mass in B Minor, Handel the Op. 6 Concerti Grossi, Beethoven's, Brahms', Franck's symphonies, and some of Mozart's, Sibelius', Shostakovich's, Nielsen's, most of Mahler's, Schmidt's 4th, both of Schoenberg's Chamber Symphonies, and some of the pieces by the late Guido Turchi; as far as living composers are concerned, Birtwistle's Silbury Air, Benedict Mason's Concerto for the Viola Section Accompanied by the Rest of the Orchestra, and Morgan Hayes' Violin Concerto. Songs by Chausson, Duparc, Debussy, Poulenc, Mahler... Czech music - especially Suk’s Pohádka and Asrael, and Janáček’s operas and opera in general.
As far as Armenian music is concerned, the favourite composers are, of course, not the usual household names but instead Anushavan Ter Ghevontian, Geghuhi Chitchian, Ludwig Bazil, Alan Hovhaness (at his very considerable best); but if I had to choose a single work as the greatest masterpiece of Armenian music, it must surely be the Komitas/Sahakiants Liturgy for Strings. Indeed, the very best Armenian music consists of our hymns and odes, which have passed the test of the centuries and undergone a process of filtration as well as re-composition; nevertheless, the music that we have is probably not remotely as old as people think it to be, but that does not, of course, reduce its artistic value one whit!
Musicians: Of those who have passed away - Carlo Maria Giulini, Otto Klemperer, Josef Kuchinka, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Hugues Cuenod, Pierre Bernac, Jascha Heifetz, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sviatoslav Richter; of those still happily with us, Lothar Zagrosek and Michel Corboz. As far as Armenian musicians are concerned, the very best have been clergy or church musicians - Abp. Zareh Aznaworean and Archpriest Vazken Sandruni, Vahan Bedelian all possessed outstanding and warm musicality.
Bands: It is still worth hearing the Vienna Philharmonic in the flesh, whenever possible; and the Philharmonia as recorded in the 1950s and 1960s.
Favourite artwork: I am particularly fond of Danish art, particularly of the Golden Age and of the Skagen, turn-of-the-century period, but there is much else that I love. Particular favourites are Wilhelm Bendz's "A Smoking Party" (1828) and "Artist in the Evening at Finck's Coffee House in Munich" (1832), Michael Ancher's 1897 painting of Anna Ancher and Marie Kroyer walking along Sonderstrand (1897), but also James Eckford Lauder, "Bailie McWheeble at Breakfast" (1854); and one cannot fail to be fond of some of Guardi's paintings. Oh and anything by Fra Angelico... And there are many rather less well-known pieces of which I happen to be rather fond, including some modern examples... And also, it is not always just the works themselves, but how they are displayed, how they interact with each other and with the building wherein they are exhibited and with the outside as well. In these respects, one of the most magnificent exhibitions I have ever experienced was "Intuition" at the Palazzo Fortuniy, at the 2017 Biennale... But I am sure that I shall bitterly regret having omitted some favourites, moments upon sending off the present email!
If we can extend the word "artwork" to embrace architecture, one also has to include Hagia Sophia, San Marco, Dadivank, Rosslyn Chapel and Rievaulx Abbey.
Best advice you’ve been given: Oh that was indubitably from our Nonlinear Systems and Linear Algebra lecturer, Dr J. C. Alwright at Imperial College - "Do not attribute to malice that which may be attributed to stupidity"! And the Arabic saying - "Allow the owner to decide what his donkey should be tied to"!
Coffee or tea and what kind: Both, but I drink tea to live, and coffee for pleasure. There are, in fact, very many teas I like, but not the ultra-black, coarse concoctions that have to be drowned out in milk to be palatable that have an inexplicable hold over the British public! The very best coffee I have ever had was purchased in Tbilisi from a tiny Armenian shop; otherwise, I prefer the Charalambous coffee in Cyprus. I have been very fortunate to have enjoyed outstanding Far Eastern coffee (though not the variety that is recovered from the droppings of specially nourished animals). I also enjoy fine espresso, but it is very much a hit-and-miss affair. No less important, I find, is the ritual of having coffee, and the company with which one shares the coffee. I fear the Camus quote about not committing suicide so long as one may enjoy coffee is apocryphal, but I do sympathise with the sentiment!
Favourite place in London: St. Bart's Hospital, beyond doubt. I could also include "Books Etc." at Liverpool Street station, "HMV" at Oxford Street, and "Foyles" - but all these have either disappeared, moved or been transformed beyond recognition since I last lived in London.
Haig Utidjian has many interests and talents, holding degrees in Control Engineering as well as Conducting. He has devoted himself to music in many forms, including Armenian sacred music, and has taught Grabar for AI.