Pegasus: The Orchestra

Pegasus: the Orchestra is a nonprofit professional orchestra with a mission to empower rising musicians with artistic freedom and promote innovative repertoire in an environment of creative thought and expression. Founded by Karén Hakobyan in late 2017, the orchestra brings together musicians and audiences of diverse backgrounds and cultural heritages by harnessing the power of music. Pegasus: the Orchestra is an ensemble with exclusive Yamaha sponsorship.

Pegasus: the Orchestra has accepted a Monira Foundation residency to continue its activities at Mana Contemporary with a diverse third season of new and classic works, featuring orchestra, piano, jazz and chamber concerts with plans to expand to youth and world music series in the near future. Some of the highlights from Pegasus’s engagements outside of its residency include: Debut concert at Merkin Concert Hall on November 23, 2019 featuring Glenn Dicterow, the legendary former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, and Pegasus’s own concertmaster, Eiko Kano, performing Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, alongside works by Hakobyan and Tchaikovsky conducted by Karén Hakobyan. A program of American music at the Friends of Music concert series in Stamford, NY on September 15, 2019, an event that illustrated a key aspect of its mission: to bring the sounds of a symphony hall to intimate spaces and locations where live music of a high caliber is rarely heard. With a composer-arranger as founder, artistic director, and principal conductor, Pegasus often performs orchestral works in special arrangements by Karén Hakobyan. These are tailored for the Pegasus ensemble to take on the road and perform in all kinds of venues. The ensemble’s versatility is one of its greatest strengths: compact and flexible, Pegasus performs music of all types of instrumentations, from duos to full orchestra. Pegasus’ chamber series, featuring its world-class principals, fulfills its mission to provide an artistic platform through performance opportunities. 

Several news outlets have showcased Pegasus, including Al Jazeera, Voice of America TV Network, Ardzagang Armenian TV, the Russian Television Network of America, The Voice of Armenians TV program on the NYC Life Channel, WGCH (Greenwich, CT) Talk Radio, WQXR New York Classical Radio, WSKG Radio and Get Classical’s online journal.

Upcoming performance highlights include “Two Stars” concert featuring 2007 Tchaikovsky International Competition gold medalist, cellist Sergey Antonov, and first prize winner of the 2018 Honens Competition, pianist Nicolas Namoradze, with Pegasus: the Orchestra to perform Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, and Schumann’s Introduction and Allegro Appassionato, Op. 92, respectively, as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with Karén Hakobyan as conductor in late 2021. Pegasus will also mark its Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall in late spring of 2022 featuring the complete Rachmaninoff Piano Concerti performed by five pianists in a single evening.

Pegasus is passionate about fostering artistic freedom, creating performance opportunities, programming innovative repertoire, weaving a strong community fabric, advocating for the right to music education, and promoting humanity and equality. To learn more about Pegasus, visit: http://www.pegasustheorchestra.org 

 * Yamaha CFIIIS Concert Grand Piano provided by Yamaha Artist Services New York in support of Pegasus: The Orchestra’s Fourth Season presented by the Monira Foundation on their digital stage.