The National Festival and Competition for Composition and Musical Interpretation "Mihail Jora" from Roman takes place between October 14^th and 16^th and is organized by the Union of Armenians of Romania.

Mr. Nazaretian, what special events have you prepared for the public in Roman with this edition of the festival?

The festival starts on October 14^th, continues on the 15^th, and on Sunday, the 16^th, those who grace us with their presence are leaving. This is the 3^rd edition of the festival and we have the same standard that we try to abide by. On the first day, on Friday, after the guests will have accommodated, we will have a roundtable about the main persona, Mihail Jora, namely about his life, personality and work. But before that, we will take a moment of silence in memory of the dead from the war with a neighbouring country in which Armenia is currently implicated. After that, we will try to get everything organized. Only on October 14^th, at 3pm will I know exactly which contestants I am counting on and how many people will be coming. Then, we will gather and organize everything so that it is all right.

On Saturday, between 10am and 12pm, the first series of contestants will perform. At 12pm, we will have a book release with the writer Varujan Vosganian, who will present his latest work, which appeared this year at the "Polirom" publishing house. Then there is the lunch, and then the second and the third series of contestants. In the evening, we will have a gala show with important personalities from the artistic realm of music and, in the first place Cosmin Bălean, our guest who plays the duduc, a traditional Armenian instrument.

We are also honoured by the presence of the Romanian Television and that of the local televisions, and we will also broadcast the events on YouTube. We hope it all goes well.

Who is the contest open to?

The competition is open to young vocal performers and instrumentalists up to the age of 23, and for the contestants in the composition section the age limit is 25 years.

We also have another festival in Roman, the "Garabet Ibrăileanu" one, which takes place in May and is also an important festival. I can point out that in spring we organized the 5^th edition, and at this festival the "Omnia" Awards of the Writers' Union of Romania for debut, criticism and literary history are offered. I would say we have an excellent level.

And at the musical festival too, considering that we have a tradition in Roman with those who dedicated themselves to the art of music - Paul Ciuntu, Alexandru Zirra… -Armenians born and raised in Roman; but let's not forget the great Sergiu Celibidache. He is not Armenian, but he too is our fellow from Roman.

Almost each of them deserves a festival, but we try to remember, promote and protect our ethnic, linguistic and cultural traditions in any field. Here I also make a connection with the law establishing that on October 12^th, the Day of the Armenian alphabet, language and culture be celebrated in Romania.

We have a special jury, which is chaired by Mihaela Vosganian, PhD professor at the National University of Music Bucharest. Then, one of the most valuable music critics in Romania - Dumitru Avakian, our fellow Armenian, but also Cosmin Bălean from the Timisoara Philharmonic.