By Kariné Guzelian
The venue for the “Composer on Broadway” concert was the David Lloyd George room in the National Liberal Club, by the banks of the River Thames. Lloyd George served as British Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922 and was among the first non-Armenians to acknowledge “the extermination and deportation of the whole of the Armenian race” by the Young Turks. It struck me as a strange synchronicity to sit in the beautiful wood-panelled room which bears his name a week before Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
The evening’s programme was a celebration of the Golden Age of American music. It was a homage to the master innovators of musical theatre who brought together the traditions of opera and operetta, as well as popular song and jazz. Following its sold-out launch at the Royal Opera House in January 2024, soprano Anush Hovhannisyan and singer-pianist Sam Jewison enchanted the audience with some of the best loved (and some lesser known) pieces by Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, George Gershwin, Frederick Loewe and Cole Porter.
It was a privilege to be in such an intimate setting (there were perhaps 120 guests) with artists of their calibre. Anush and Sam sang individually but also performed together. Between numbers, they chatted to us, giving their own take on a particular piece, or providing us with some interesting facts and context.
Anush amused us with an anecdote of how she first met Sam in Italy a few years previously. It was at the Italian equivalent of the Chelsea Flower Show where she recalled seeing women galore wearing hats the size of this room, adorned with flowers. She was understandably alarmed that, due to unforeseen circumstances, she and Sam had been unable to rehearse prior to the performance. Her levels of anxiety grew when she saw Sam for the first time. “He looks about 12 now,” she quipped, “so he looked about 9 then!” Anush feared the evening would be a disaster! Sam reassured her that he was a trained singer and fully understood his role in accompanying her. As it turned out, he was right – and the evening was a resounding success.
In relating a story or singing a song, Anush dazzles the audience with her warmth and authenticity. She has a mesmerising presence, partly because she stays in character throughout and partly because she puts her heart and soul into every performance. “People will say we’re in Love,” was sung with charm and humour; the Balcony scene from West Side Story was delivered with excitement and passion; her rendition of Bali Hai from South Pacific was haunting and mysterious. Other pieces exuded charm and joy, pain and sorrow as the mood and the music demanded.
Anush conveys emotion in many ways: through a raised eyebrow, a cheeky smile, a shrug of the shoulders, a sweep of her cloak, a breathless sigh, a knowing chuckle. But most of all she has the power to touch one’s heart with her rich, velvety tones, undulating up and down the octaves, now enchanting, now captivating, but always moving.
