Daily Archives: June 15, 2013

The winner of the 9th Aram Khachaturian International Competition is Andrei Ionita

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arm137123075650On July 14, the closing ceremony of the 9th Aram Khachaturian International Competition took place. The jury chairman Aram Talalyan announced the names of the winners. So, the winner of the 9th Aram Khachaturian International Competition is the cellist Andrei Ionita. The second prize was awarded to Anna Morozova (Russia). And the third prize was awarded to Aleksandra Perlova (Russia) and Gayane Khachatryan (Armenia).

The jury also gave a number of special prizes.

The honorary guest of the competition artistic director and principal conductor of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra Pavel Kogan mentioned in his speech, that the main aim of the competition is to help the young musicians find their professional path. He said that the winner, Andrei Ionita, will be given a chance to perform with Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.

The MIDEM classical and jazz worldwide director Cornelia Much awarded a special prize to Andrei Ionita, inviting him to take part in the festival in 2014. She also invited pianist Armen Babakhanian and cellist Gayane Khachatryan. Cornelia Much noted the high level of the competition, especially highlighting the impartial and professional work of the jury.

The official orchestra of the competition State Youth Orchestra of Armenia gave a special prize “Audience Award”. It was awarded to Levon Arakelyan from Armenia.

Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas gave a special prize for the best pianist of the 9th Aram Khachaturian International Competition. The jury awarded the prize to Armen Babakhanian and Arthur Avanesov.

Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund awarded a special prize to two participants from Armenia, Hakob Atyan and Michael Navasardian, who will have a number of concerts in CIS countries in 2013-2014.

According to tradition Aram Khachaturian House-Museum awarded the prize to the best solo performance. The prize was awarded to Andrei Ionita (Romania).

Head of Planning of the Dresden Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Caron Kopp compared Aram Khachaturian International Competition to European competitions. According to Caron Kopp, it is important that the competition not only identifies talented musicians, but also introduces the music of Aram Khachaturian to the world.

International Competition named after the great composer was launched on the 110th anniversary of Aram Khachaturian, on June 6, and consisted of 3 rounds.

During the closing ceremony Andrei Ionita performed with the official orchestra of the competition, the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia (Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Sergey Smbatyan), while during the opening ceremony of the competition the Youth Orchestra performed with the world-renowned cellist Gautier Capuçon from France, who played cello concerto by Aram Khachaturian.

The project was implemented thanks to joint efforts of RA Ministry of Culture, “Aram Khachaturian-competition” Cultural Foundation and Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. It is held under the high patronage of the First Lady of RA Mrs. Rita Sargsyan, who is honorary president of the board of trustees of the competition. Since 2010 the main partner of the competition has been the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation.

It is noteworthy, that Aram Khachaturian International Competition now has a different status: since May it has become a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions.

“Aram Khachaturian-competition” Cultural Foundation

Australia officially recognises third gender of ‘intersex’ on all documents for people who do not feel they are male or female

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passportAustralia has announced new guidelines to recognise the gender category ‘intersex’ on official documents.

Under the new system, which will come into effect from July 1, individuals will not be required to have undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy to select the new category.

Since 2011 Australian nationals who were biologically not entirely male or female, have been able to select ‘X’ as a gender category on their passports.

Transgender people have been able to pick whether they are male or female providing their choice is supported by a doctor.
The changes mean people will now have the option to select M (male), F (female) or X (Indeterminate/Intersex/Unspecified).

According to Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus the new guidelines will make it easier for people to establish or change their sex or gender in personal records held by federal government departments and agencies.

If an Australian wants to change the gender entry on their personal record, the government will now accept a statement from their doctor or psychologist, a valid Australian passport or a state or territory birth certificate or other document which shows their preferred status.

 

Say awwww! The dentist who travels around the world to fix ANIMALS’ teeth… from deadly hippos to an adorable little hedgehog

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Steenkamp operating on a bearBeing a dentist is not always an easy job. Performing painful surgery on grumpy patients can test the patience – and nerves – of even the most experienced.

But when that patient is a six-tonne elephant needing root canal or a lion with toothache, it makes the task all the more trickier.

However, for Dr. Gerhard Steenkamp, it is all in a days work. The South African is one of the world’s top vet dentists, operating on some of the wilds most ferocious predators.

Dr Steenkamp’s work has seen him travel to China, Egypt, the UAE, and across Africa – performing around 500 surgeries a year.

The dentist, from Pretoria, said: ‘I’ve been really blessed in my career so far to work on a variety of animals.

‘I’ve operated on everything from a small bat right up to a six tonne elephant.

‘There’s been plenty of carnivores too – lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs.

‘The majority of the big animals like buffalo, hippo, rhino, elephants, they’re just so big and enormous it can be tricky.

‘Their size makes it difficult to work with them, you cannot just quickly move then around or turn them on their other side, it has to be meticulously planned beforehand.’

Dr Steenkamp, a trained dentist and maxillofacial surgeon, performs a host of procedures including root canals, extracting teeth and scaling and polishing teeth.

The most common complaints from his animal patents are fractures of teeth, infections and abscesses.

 

Too much for the Irish? Rihanna’s topless image is covered up on billboards across Dublin

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Rihanna's photo in Dublin4She shocked locals when she stripped off in a field in Northern Ireland to shoot her video We Found Love in 2011, and it seems the people of Ireland still haven’t recovered Rihanna’s raunchy video shoot.

Images of the singer topless have been plastered on billboard around the Irish city to promote her Diamonds world tour stop at the Aviva Stadium on June 21st.

Pictures of the star have been covered up with items of clothing which conceal the singer’s modesty.

Several of the billboards have been covered with dresses stapled across Rihanna’s chest, concealing her the topless photo used to promote her Unapologetic album and Diamonds tour.

Rihanna’s world tour promotional images are not the first time the singer has angered residents of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In September 2011, Rihanna had been filming the video for her latest single, We Found Love, with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris – which at one point saw the singer go topless – when 61-year-old farmer Alan Graham spotted her stripping down to a bikini made up of red handkerchiefs.

The furious farmer, who asked for filming to be halted, later defended his actions, saying Rihanna’s behaviour was ‘inappropriate’.