ARCO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
HODGSON CONCERT HALL
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at 5:30 p.m.
Ramsey Concert Hall
UGA Performing Arts Center
University of Georgia ARCO Chamber Orchestra
Levon Ambartsumian, Artistic Director, Conductor and Soloist
Oliver Yatsugafu, Guest Conductor
James Kim, cello
Shakhida Azimkhodjaeva, viola
PROGRAM
Concerto # 1 an A minor for Cello and Orchestra
I. Allegro moderato
II. Largo
III. Allegro con moto.
James Kim , cello, Oliver Yatsugafu, conductor
Journey. Suite for violin , viola and orchestra
I. SWEET DREAMS. Andante
II. MEMORIES. Allegretto
III. JOURNEY. Allegro molto.
Dedicated to Levon Ambartsumian
Karen Khanagov
Efrem Podgaits.
Levon Ambartsumian, violin, Shakhida Azimkhodjaeva, viola, Oliver Yatsugafu, conductor.
Serenade , op 22
Moderato
Tempo di Valse
SCHERZO. Vivace
Larghetto
FINALE. Allegro vivace
Antonin Dvorak
KAREN KHANAGOV
Karen Khanagov, has a long-lasting music career filled with experimentations in different genres and instruments. He holds a double master’s degree, from Azerbaijan State Conservatory and University of Oklahoma. In the USA he began extensive violin teaching at Oklahoma City University. Many of his students became winners of various competitions and study violin for full scholarships in different schools throughout the country. Recent years were balanced more toward compositions. Among his works there is a string symphony “Symphony of Souls” dedicated to Armenian genocide, a cello concerto, violin concerto, piano concerto, and a cycle of compositions “Parade of Nations” which consists of 18 solo compositions with chamber orchestra in the music style of 18 different countries, 2 violin sonatas and various smaller works. Currently he leads “Symphonix - OKC” group that combines amplified string chamber orchestra and modern rhythm section of keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums. Unusual instrumentation leads to many variations of styles from classical to modern original and opens the door to defining the original sound of the group. After retiring from OCU he continues teaching home school groups and privately.
Efrem Podgaits, currently Professor of Composition at Moscow Ippolitov- Ivanov Institutute of Music graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Podgaits’s works include 14 operas (in particular, «Alice through the Looking-glass» and «The Prince and the Pauper», staged in St.Petersburg and in Moscow, «Dyuimovockha» («Thumbolina») staged in Moscow, won the «grand-prix» in 2001 for the best children’s performance and continues to run, with great success, at the N.I. Satz Childrens’ Musical Theatre ; «Lord of the flies» ( the N.I. Satz Childrens’ Musical Theatre,2007); «Ice-9» (after C.Vonnegut «Cat’s cradle»), «Fallen angel» (after J.Collier), «The Little Prince» (after Antoine de Saint-Exupery), «Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep» (after G.Andersen); ballet «Moidodyr» (Moscow, Bolshoy theatre, 2012).
4 ballets, 4 symphonies; 50 concerti for different instruments and orchestra, including, for the first time in Russia, a Concerto for harpsichord and orchestra, the «Lambada-Concerto» for oboe and orchestra, as well as one of the most significant works of the past years - a Triple Concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra.
The music of E. Podgaits has regularly been performed at musical festivals and competitions all over the world.
Oliver Yatsugafu is currently an associate professor of violin at the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Brazil. He holds a DMA in violin performance from the University of Georgia - USA, where he was a student of Levon Ambartsumian. Yatsugafu won top prizes at several national competitions in Brazil such as the VII Strings National Competition of Juiz de Fora and the Petrobas Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. During his orchestral career, he was concertmaster of many Orchestras in Brazil such as Paraná State Symphony Orchestra, Paraná Soloists Orchestra, Florianópolis Chamber Orchestra, and SCB Symphony Orchestra. While at UGA, Yatsugafu won the UGA Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and participated in various international violin competitions such as the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach - Austria, Julio Cardona Strings Competition in Covilhã - Portugal, and II China International Violin Competition in Qindao - China. Yatsugafu has had appearances as a soloist with Petrobas Symphony Orchestra, Bahia State Symphony Orchestra, Paraná State Symphony Orchestra, Florianópolis Chamber Orchestra, Mata Grosso State Orchestra, and SCB Brasília Symphony Orchestra among others. In addition to the performances, Yatsugafu was the artistic director of Santa Catarina Strings Music Festival for two editions and was a recipient of the “Carlos Gomes” Cultural Merit’s Order awarded by the SBACE (Brazilian Society for Arts, Culture, and Education).
Levon Ambartsumian is Regent’s and Franklin Professor Professor of Violin at the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music. Prior to coming to UGA in 1995, he was a Visiting Professor at Indiana University School of Music, replacing legendary American Violin Teacher Joseph Gingold. He also taught at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1978 where he taught for 15 years.
Ambartsumian is an alumnus of the Moscow Central Music School and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where his teachers were Felix Andrievski, Yury Yankelevitch, Leonid Kogan and Igor Bezrodny. In 1977 he became the First Prize winner of Zagreb International Violin Competition headed by Henryk Szeryng. Two years later he was a prize-winner of the Montreal International Competition, and in 1981 he won the All-Union Violin Competition in Riga.
In 1988 Amartsumian was distinguished as “Honored Artist of Armenia,” and was named “Honored Artist of Russia” in 1997. He has performed in the major cities of the United States of America, Russia, Eastern Europe, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, China, Japan, and South Korea, having collaborated as a soloist with conductors and composers such as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Maxim Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Alfred Schnittke, Karen Khachaturian, and many others.
In 1990 Ambartsumian founded the Moscow Chamber Orchestra ARCO which regularly performed in Russia and abroad and now resides in Athens, Georgia. Since its creation, Ambartsumian has led UGA’s ARCO Chamber Orchestra, commercially releasing 15 CDs and has performing four times in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. In 2011, ARCO was invited to perform at La Fenice, the world famous Opera House in Venice, Italy.
Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Shakhida Azimkhodjaeva began violin studies at the Tashkent State Conservatory’s Special Music School. At age eleven she made her debut with the Uzbekistan Symphony Orchestra and won the Uzbekistan National Violin Competition.
Azimkhodjaeva graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where she studied with Professor Irina Medvedeva. While attending school. she performed with Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory Symphony Orchestra under direction of such conductors as Zubin Metha, Pierre Boulez, Dmitry Kitaenko, Valery Gergiev, Fuat Mansurov, and many others.
As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed in all the major cities of the former Soviet Union in the most prestigious halls, including as Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Concert Halls.
Azimkhodjaeva was one of the founders of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra “ARCO.” Since then she has been concertmaster, soloist, and assistant conductor of the orchestra and has performed extensively both as a soloist and concertmaster in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Romania, Latvia, Russia, South Korea, USA, and Canada. She has recorded numerous CDs of music by Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Ysaye, Rosza, Piazzolla and Shostakovich and other contemporary composers. Recent performances include seven appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
Azimkhodjaeva joined the violin faculty of the University of Georgia School Hugh Hodgson School of Music in 1995.
James Kim has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as Boston Symphony and Royal Philharmonic, working with conductors David Zinman, Michael Sanderling, Alexander Shelley, Keith Lockhart, onstage at Carnegie Stern Auditorium, Zankel Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has given solo recitals at Carnegie Weill Hall, Greene Space, Seoul Arts Center IBK Hall, and Kumho Art Hall. His performances have been broadcasted on radio stations NPR and WQXR.
He has also collaborated with numerous orchestras in his native Korea, concertizing at Lotte Concert Hall—where he is the first soloist in its history—Tongyeong Concert Hall, Daegu Concert House, Seoul Arts Center, and DITTO Festival. In 2021, Sony Classical released his album Death and Offering presenting works dedicated to him by Korean composer Shinuh Lee.
He is a recipient of Salon de Virtuosi’s Sony Career Grant and a top prizewinner of Isang Yun and David Popper International Cello Competitions. From 2016 to 2021, he performed on a Matteo Goffriller cello from Venice ca. 1715, generously loaned by Samsung Cultural Foundation and Stradivari Society® of Chicago, Illinois.
Levon Ambartsumian, Artistic Director, Conductor
Violins
Sarah Nienhiser
Alexis Boylan
Clarissa Tamara
Ruhua Zhang
Jocelyn Andronache - Opris
Jhonni Campos
Zeyu Yuan
Karla Meijas
Chelsea Afful
Jieying Wang
Violas
Shakhida Azimkhodjaeva
Rogelio Bonilla - Pedra
Carlos Brena
ZhiJie Xu
Cellos
Thomas LaMon
Ryan Datter
Tristan Dempsey
One more cellist
Bass
Wueliton Zelanatto Dal Pon
