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In September 2004, composer Armen Nalbandian founded the Rhythms of Art at The Fresno Art Museum, in Fresno, California where he served as Artist-in Residence & Musical Director until the program’s conclusion in May 2008.
The Rhythms of Art concert series featured original compositions written by Nalbandian inspired by the work of the exhibiting artists, and performed on a monthly basis at the museum’s Bonner Auditorium.
Over 600 compositions were premiered as part of the series perfomed by a significant number of ensembles and guest artists including the following works: Witness, A Pure Working, Conflict & Compassion.
Nalbandian employed various ensembles, many created specifically for the event including: The Armen Nalbandian Trio, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Octet, Sound Ensemble, Heretic, Bottomless, RE-Group, Experiment, and many additional configurations. Many ensembles featured a core group of musicians/imporovisore, most notably his trio at the time featuring Brian Hamada & Kevin Hill.
Exhibiting artists that served as a source of inspiration for the compositions included: Arshille Gorky, Anne Scheid, Frank Lobdell among many others.
Guest artists included: Han Bennink, Tzadik recording artist Derek Keller, Nino Moschella, DJ 4am, Ted Nash, and many others.
Aster concluding his first year, Nalbandian’s own personal music began to become more experimental and avant-garde, thus shifting the focus of series as a whole. Portions of the program began to incorporate a more adventurous tone, employing an experimental and almost entirely improvised content. The inclusions of “game pieces” inspired by John Zorn became a regular fixture, highlighted by the 2-hr composition, “The Battle of New Orleans.”
Nalbandian also leveraged the program to raise funds for various organizations. Nalbandian has raised thousands of dollars in aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina by way of many benefit concerts. Nalbandian has also raised money for organizations as diverse as The United Way, The Red Cross, the ONE Campaign, Habitat for Humanity, The American Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Research and The Relay for Life Foundation, among others.
In addition to the scheduled series, Nalbandian also incorporated several additional concerts highlighting the works of Jazz legends such as Art Blakey & Thelonious Monk in addition to a concert dedicated to the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. In addition, Nalbandian collaborated with Californian Poets, in presenting, “Speak the Blues.”
Additional programs were introduced during Nalbandian’s tenure including children’s programming (Jump for Jazz) & F.O.R.M. (Festival of Resurrected Music). Nalbandian also released 3 recordings during his tenure at the museum: 2006’s Armen, and in 2007 he released Manchester Born & Young Kings Get Their Heads Cut Off.
The series concluded with a solo piano concert featuring Nalbandian performing the works of John Zorn’s Masada in May 2008.
