Day: April 26, 2024
Kariné Poghosyan has performed all around the world in some of the most prestigious concert halls. Still, one of the projects she is most proud of is her own monthly Lecture-Recital broadcast she curates and performs on the last Sunday of each month.
This groundbreaking project began as a small-scale, exclusively virtual performance for her Patreon members, a global audience tuning in live on Zoom. The very first broadcast in January 2021 was a humble endeavor from the artist’s New York apartment, on her 100-year-old Boston Chickering piano, the only technology being her own MacBook Air. She had invested in a proper microphone, but in the hurry of preparations, she used the wrong USB cord and later discovered to her horror that she had plugged in the printer and not the microphone. Thankfully, the grateful audience forgave the technical limitations, and with each recital her monthly viewership grew.
In 2023, Poghosyan upgraded the broadcast to performances from various small concert venues around the city. This year, the pianist received the support and funding to produce full-scale multi-camera professional broadcasts with top sound engineers. The funding came from AGBU and Seta Nazarian, who is supporting the concert series in memory of her mother Artemis Nazarian. This was particularly meaningful to the pianist, as Nazarian was a passionate supporter of her musical journey, providing scholarship funds during her student years and sponsoring her very first full solo recital at Carnegie Hall in 2005. It was a thrilling full-circle moment for the pianist to honor Nazarian’s memory through this personal project.
Poghosyan calls the concert series one of her proudest artistic achievements. “These inspirational, innovative monthly events bring together music-lovers for three different experiences – the unique live performances, a chance to learn more about the music and composers, but above all, the feeling of togetherness as they connect with each other in the community. In my own way, I wanted to create a similar experience to Leonard Bernstein’s Young Peoples’ Concerts, except mine would be for people of all ages and backgrounds, tuning in on Zoom from all over the world on the last Sunday each month to experience the joy of live music. My vision is to expand their reach and impact much further and create PBS-worthy monthly productions for the patrons to experience live from the comfort of their homes,” Poghosyan said.
The hour-long programs present an array of themes and genres, as Poghosyan shares fascinating insights about each composer and the works in that recital’s program. The first four recitals of this year were grouped under the theme of “Vienna” and devoted to Schubert, Haydn, Mozart and, now in April, Beethoven. The program for this Sunday’s performance is Beethoven’s iconic piano concerto No.5, known as the Emperor.
A historic moment will take place during this month’s recital broadcast, as the pianist will for the first time allow a small in-person audience to attend, in addition to the livestream. This change came about as many of her local Patreon members asked her for the opportunity to attend in person. Poghosyan will be joined by five colleagues, Charlotte Munn-Wood, Louis Barker, Brian L.Thompson, Diana Gatschet and Norman Lotz, for a string quintet arrangement. The performance is limited seating, and ticket sales will close on the day prior to the concert.
Poghosyan’s next monthly recital series will be themed Chopin with four programs coming up on May 26, June 30, July 28 and August 25.
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The Georgian government has refused to publish the report of the fifth assessment round of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), Transparency International – Georgia said on April 26, calling on the Anti-Corruption Bureau to release the report to the public. This has been denied by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and by the Prime Minister himself.
The report of GRECO’s fifth assessment round examined the prevention of corruption and the promotion of integrity in the top executive functions of central government and law enforcement agencies. The report covers issues such as ethical principles and rules of conduct, conflicts of interest, declaration of assets, income, liabilities and interests, enforcement of conflict of interest rules and awareness. The report was adopted during GRECO’s 96th plenary session, held in Strasbourg from March 18 to 22. The document is accompanied by recommendations and the Georgian government has until September 30, 2025 to report on their implementation.
TI-Georgia stresses in its statement that the implementation of GRECO’s recommendations is part of Georgia’s European integration process and, referring to the Venice Commission’s recommendation, the watchdog adds that it is also part of de-oligarchization process.
“We are facing a dangerous and alarming tendency that the Georgian government refuses to participate in the process of monitoring the anti-corruption environment and/or to publish the assessment [report],” the watchdog says.
The statement slams the Georgian government for withdrawing last year from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Anti-Corruption Network (OECD/ACN) monitoring, while stressing that “the European Commission is directly calling on us to rejoin the OECD/ACN monitoring process.”
TI-Georgia notes that the CoE may allow the country not to publish the assessment reports, although such exceptions, generally take place in countries where the corruption is a particularly serious problem.
The watchdog calls on the Georgian Anti-Corruption Bureau, which was a coordinating body for the fifth round of GRECO monitoring, to immediately publish the assessment report and to join the OECD/ACN monitoring process as recommended by the European Commission.
Anti-Corruption Bureau Denies TI-Georgia’s Allegations
On the same day, April 26, the Georgian Anti-Corruption Bureau issued a response statement, saying that the information claimed by the watchdog, as if the Georgian government is hiding the GRECO anti-corruption assessment report, “is a lie”, and the only reason why the report has not yet been published is that it is being translated in Georgian.
In its statement, the Bureau referred to Georgia’s fifth round assessment report and the second addendum to the fourth round second compliance report, both of which were adopted at the 96th plenary session of GRECO.
Citing GRECO regulations, the Bureau said that “all stages of the evaluation process are confidential, unless the country ensures the publication of the document translated into the native language.” It added: “Until the translation is completed and published, the status of each of these reports remains ‘confidential’ under GRECO rules.”
The statement noted that translating the reports “requires a reasonable amount of time” given their volume, and that is why they are still unpublished and confidential.
The Bureau added that it has “immediately” started translating the reports and that once the process is completed, it will publish them on the official websites of both the Bureau and GRECO.
In addition to the statement of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze also today, April 26, while speaking with journalists said that TI-Georgia reported a lie. According to him, the Georgian government has already committed to the Council of Europe to publish the report as soon as it is translated.
“This lie [about the GRECO assessment report] was spread by Transparency International [Georgia], which in fact should be called National Obscurity, that is, the complete opposite of what it is called.” PM Kobakhidze said, adding that it is just “a matter of days” before the report is published.
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The Georgian government has refused to publish the report of the fifth assessment round of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), Transparency International – Georgia said on April 26, calling on the Anti-Corruption Bureau to release the report to the public. This has been denied by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and by the Prime Minister himself.
The report of GRECO’s fifth assessment round examined the prevention of corruption and the promotion of integrity in the top executive functions of central government and law enforcement agencies. The report covers issues such as ethical principles and rules of conduct, conflicts of interest, declaration of assets, income, liabilities and interests, enforcement of conflict of interest rules and awareness. The report was adopted during GRECO’s 96th plenary session, held in Strasbourg from March 18 to 22. The document is accompanied by recommendations and the Georgian government has until September 30, 2025 to report on their implementation.
TI-Georgia stresses in its statement that the implementation of GRECO’s recommendations is part of Georgia’s European integration process and, referring to the Venice Commission’s recommendation, the watchdog adds that it is also part of de-oligarchization process.
“We are facing a dangerous and alarming tendency that the Georgian government refuses to participate in the process of monitoring the anti-corruption environment and/or to publish the assessment [report],” the watchdog says.
The statement slams the Georgian government for withdrawing last year from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Anti-Corruption Network (OECD/ACN) monitoring, while stressing that “the European Commission is directly calling on us to rejoin the OECD/ACN monitoring process.”
TI-Georgia notes that the CoE may allow the country not to publish the assessment reports, although such exceptions, generally take place in countries where the corruption is a particularly serious problem.
The watchdog calls on the Georgian Anti-Corruption Bureau, which was a coordinating body for the fifth round of GRECO monitoring, to immediately publish the assessment report and to join the OECD/ACN monitoring process as recommended by the European Commission.
Anti-Corruption Bureau Denies TI-Georgia’s Allegations
On the same day, April 26, the Georgian Anti-Corruption Bureau issued a response statement, saying that the information claimed by the watchdog, as if the Georgian government is hiding the GRECO anti-corruption assessment report, “is a lie”, and the only reason why the report has not yet been published is that it is being translated in Georgian.
In its statement, the Bureau referred to Georgia’s fifth round assessment report and the second addendum to the fourth round second compliance report, both of which were adopted at the 96th plenary session of GRECO.
Citing GRECO regulations, the Bureau said that “all stages of the evaluation process are confidential, unless the country ensures the publication of the document translated into the native language.” It added: “Until the translation is completed and published, the status of each of these reports remains ‘confidential’ under GRECO rules.”
The statement noted that translating the reports “requires a reasonable amount of time” given their volume, and that is why they are still unpublished and confidential.
The Bureau added that it has “immediately” started translating the reports and that once the process is completed, it will publish them on the official websites of both the Bureau and GRECO.
In addition to the statement of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze also today, April 26, while speaking with journalists said that TI-Georgia reported a lie. According to him, the Georgian government has already committed to the Council of Europe to publish the report as soon as it is translated.
“This lie [about the GRECO assessment report] was spread by Transparency International [Georgia], which in fact should be called National Obscurity, that is, the complete opposite of what it is called.” PM Kobakhidze said, adding that it is just “a matter of days” before the report is published.
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