Suren Zakarian

One of Armenia's "middle generation" composers, Suren Zakarian is a musician of considerable note in his native country. Six years ago he was brought to the attention of Dr. Sachs, and Sachs has championed Suren's music ever since. Last month, he arranged for Zakarian's string quartet to be played as part of the Museum of Modern Art's "Summergarden" series.

Zakarian's music has been called "Eerie. Desolate. Haunting. Perturbing." by Sahan Arzruni.

Suren Zakarian's "Island of Lamentation," was performed by the New Juilliard Ensemble under the baton of Joel Sachs at New York's Lincoln Center on Saturday, September 24, 2005. As Dr. Sachs remarked after the concert, "You wouldn't want to be in his mind as he was composing it."

"Island of Lamentation" was composed for the New Juilliard Ensemble in 2001 as a gesture of thanks for its 1999 performance of Mr. Zakarian's "Dedicatio." It has since been performed elsewhere on numerous occasions.