Echoes of Our Ancestors: A One-Night Cultural Epic at the Greek Theatre

By Paul Vartan Sookiasian

Centuries of Armenian history, resilience, and artistry will converge into a single show, Echoes of Our Ancestors, a sweeping musical and visual experience directed by filmmaker Arman Nshanian and producer Asko Akopyan on Friday, September 12, at the iconic Los Angeles Greek Theatre.

A project of the People of Ar Cultural Foundation in partnership with Oscar Gold Productions, the event brings together a vision to reawaken cultural pride through art with an unprecedented roster of talent and a massive production team. Immediately prior to the start of the concert, a USC Institute of Armenian Studies panel of experts will provide context and set the scene.

A Star-Studded Cast of Global Armenian Talent

At the heart of the evening are 14 celebrated Armenian performers spanning genres and generations. Among them: Serj Tankian of System of a Down, jazz-piano innovator Tigran Hamasyan, Sebu Simonian of Capital Cities, soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, folk icons Nune Yesayan and Karnig Sarkissian, Eurovision singers Inga & Anush, and rising stars Sona Rubenyan and Sevak Amroyan.

In all, more than 300 performers will take the stage, donning bespoke costumes crafted exclusively for the show.

These include the Haikian Chamber Choir and the Zvartnots Dance Ensemble, as well as a modern ballet troupe led by principal choreographer and dancer Ludvig Ispiryan. A full symphonic orchestra, a folk orchestra, and a rhythm section will perform under the baton of Maestro Sergey Smbatyan, conductor of the Armenian National Symphony, with musical production by composer Andranik Berberyan.

History Told Through Music

What makes Echoes of Our Ancestors unique is not only its scale but its storytelling. Nshanian and his collaborators have chosen 20 defining moments in Armenian history to be featured in the show, each expressed through carefully chosen pieces of music.

“The musical producer and I have chosen works that represent each time period emotionally,” says Nshanian. “Avet Terteryan’s Third Symphony, for example, represents the Great Flood. When I hear it, that’s what it speaks to me, and so we’ve placed these works into a storyline that takes the audience on a journey through time.”

A Performer’s Perspective

For Simonian, best known as half of the pop duo Capital Cities, the show is also a chance to reinterpret Armenia’s most revered musical figure. “Komitas was an ethnomusicologist but also, in many ways, a modern pop artist of his time,” Sebu says. “If you dissect his more poppy songs, they’re forward-thinking and timeless. When you try to adapt them in a modern way, it works. That’s why I see him as a kind of celebrity rock star of 1912, when he was touring, recording in France, really pushing Armenian music into the modern world.”

In Echoes of Our Ancestors, Sebu performs a Komitas piece, “Yes Saren Gukayi,” which he has arranged as “I Came Down from the Mountain.” While he has translated the song into English, he also retains the original Armenian in his performance, ensuring the audience feels the song’s full scope, as he says much is lost in translation. “This track is special because Artyom Makukyan added these amazing, trippy soundscapes with his cello,” he notes. “Echoes gives me the opportunity to present another side of my work with the Armenian element, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised by the eclectic program.”

Ritual of Return

Nshanian sees the performance as much more than a show, but a “ritual of return” that will allow the audience to step outside the grind of daily life and reconnect with the immense journey of the Armenian people. “It’s a reminder of what an amazing accomplishment it is just to be here,” he says, “having been through so much and having given the world so much.”

For him, Echoes of Our Ancestors is an act of cultural preservation, which is so important at this moment of history that has seen so much loss, destruction, and demoralization. He reflects on the “chameleon mode” Armenians have been able to adopt throughout history, blending into new environments for survival, especially after the genocide or even as immigrants to Los Angeles in the 1990s.

“While that ability to blend in is a superpower, you need to leave breadcrumbs to find your way back,” he says. “Because once you’re disconnected from your roots, it’s like a tree that has lost its roots- it’s going to fall… We need to celebrate and have pride in our culture.”

That sense of pride is at the heart of the show. “More than a concert, this is a call to remembrance. A revival of pride. A deep honoring of ancestral spirit,” Nshanian explains.

He hopes that by taking a step back and surveying history, it will serve as a reminder of the Armenian capability for resilience and survival.

Comparing Armenian history to a rollercoaster, he describes how. “We have been down many times in our history, as we are now, but then we rose again. Maybe we’re at the bottom of the hill now, but we’re rising. Don’t get off the ride or take apart the track. Help push, because we’re going to go up. Through this show, I hope it’s a reminder that we are still here, and we aren’t going anywhere.”