Mayrig

A deeply personal, intimate program centered on the human voice, Mayrig (“mother” in Armenian) is a 60-minute show created by Karen Ouzounian and Lembit Beecher for cello with electronics, piano and vocals. The voices of Karen’s mother and grandmother are interwoven with original arrangements of Armenian music of her family’s past home of Anatolia, songs and stories drawn from their post-genocide home of Lebanon, and the beloved music of Charles Aznavour.

New compositions by Lembit reflect upon the experience of childhood, war, trauma, migration and the passage of time, while the music of friends Layale Chaker, Nathalie Joachim and Niloufar Nourbakhsh expand upon themes of generational transmission, rootedness and uprootedness, with music teeming with passion and celebration, resilience and rage. Opening and closing the program is Marin Marais’s Les Voix Humaines, music from hundreds of years ago providing a window into the present.

Karen Ouzounian is an acclaimed cellist and composer sought after for her “radiant” (New York Times) performances full of “tremendous heart, bringing joy and a captivating sound to the stage” (The Strad). She has appeared as a soloist in such venues as the Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kölner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf and Carnegie Hall, premiered numerous adventurous works, and appeared at the Marlboro, Ojai, Caramoor and Ravinia festivals. She has collaborated with some of the most singular musicians of our time, including Rhiannon Giddens, Augustin Hadelich and Kayhan Kalhor, performs as a member of the Silkroad Ensemble, and was the founding cellist of the Aizuri Quartet for eleven years, earning a GRAMMY nomination and major chamber music prizes on three continents. In 2024 she premiered Dear Mountains, her co-composed work with Lembit Beecher for solo cello, oud, percussion and chorus.

Estonian-American composer, pianist and animator Lembit Beecher writes “hauntingly lovely and deeply personal” music (San Francisco Chronicle) that stems from a fascination with the ways memories, histories, and stories permeate our contemporary lives. Recent premieres include “Tell Me Again” for cellist Karen Ouzounian and the Orlando Philharmonic; “Sky on Swings,” an opera featuring Frederica von Stade and Marietta Simpson tracing the relationship of two women diagnosed with Alzheimer’s; “A Year to the Day,” a song cycle featuring tenor Nicholas Phan and violinist Augustin Hadelich; and string quartets for the Juilliard, Aizuri and Lydian quartets

Karen Ouzounian, cello and vocals
Lembit Beecher, piano and electronics