AURORA PRIZE

Pianist Nare Karoyan grew up in Yerevan, surrounded by contemporary art and dozens of vinyl records. This special atmosphere, created by the merging of different means of expression, remains an inexhaustible source of energy for her. During her quest to hone her artistic skills, Nare has had the honor to work with unique personalities like Pascal Devoyon, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Peter Eicher, Anthony Spiri and Gérard Buquet. But none of this would have been possible without Boghos Noubar Pasha – a wealthy Armenian who purchased her orphaned great-grandparents from the Turks and Kurds during the Armenian Genocide and gave them a new life. Below, Nare tells her family’s story in her own words.

Moscow-based singer Mariam Merabova’s name used to only ring a bell with music connoisseurs and jazz club patrons. She kept a low profile while doing back vocals for Eurovision contestants from Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine. Her breakthrough came in 2014, when she partook in the Russian version of “The Voice” TV show, enthralling the audience with her expressiveness and musicality.

For the past seven years, as autumn brings more golden color to the streets of Yerevan, the city’s cinemas and arts centers have come to host a festival of animated films called “ReAnimania.” This year, the festival’s theme is Renaissance. “ReAnimania” fulfilled the lifelong dream of cartoonist and animated film director Vrej Kassouny. His story begins in Cilicia, winds through the cities of historic Armenia, takes a short break in Syria and eventually finds its own renaissance in Armenia.

Music critics call her the leading dramatic soprano of our times. Her performances sell out the world’s most prestigious venues from La Scala to the Met. Her superb vocal has garnered standing ovations from the most capricious audiences from Vienna, Zurich and Moscow to San Francisco, Tokyo and Sydney. Wherever she performs, she mentions her Armenian origin. The maiden name of the renowned opera singer Maria Guleghina is Meytarjian.

It all started in 1915. My grandfather, Kourken Handjian, was only eight years old when his father, chief of police in Erzinga (modern-day Erzincan in Eastern Turkey) was murdered at the beginning of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks. When mass deportations began, Kourken's family was told to leave their palatial home and join the others on a death march to Deir ez-Zor. The suffering and the unthinkable crimes he had to witness were permanently burned into Kourken's mind.

Danish missionary Maria Jacobsen was known as "Mama" to thousands of children. She saved orphans during the Genocide in the American hospital at Kharberd, and later in a Lebanese orphanage following the mass evacuation of children from the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s.

Karen Jeppe was born in late 19th century Denmark into a middle-class family. Raised by a schoolteacher and his wife, she enjoyed an unremarkable childhood in a quiet, rural parish called Gylling.

Bodil Katharine Bioern was born to a life of privilege. The daughter of a wealthy ship owner, she was one of relatively few girls in her sphere to enjoy an extensive education. By the end of 1918 Bodil had saved hundreds of Armenian orphans and women