Do Armenian authorities intend to close Yerevan Conservatory?  Question remains open 

ArmInfo. The Armenian authorities intend to close the Yerevan Conservatory, merging it with  other creative universities - the Yerevan Theater and Art Institutes. This issue has been discussed for two years now.

However, opera singer and teacher at the Yerevan Conservatory Anna  Poghosyan wrote on her Facebook page about the actual closure of the  Conservatory and the sale of this magnificent building in the very  center of the capital. She equates this case to the one if the Turks  occupied Yerevan.

According to Anna Poghosyan, they plan to open another hotel in the  building of the conservatory. The singer called this another act of  national catastrophe, which occurs with the tacit consent of the  <nation>, but in fact final self-destruction. She emphasized that the  conservatory building was built specifically for teaching musical  art. "In fact, this is the whole face of our nation, which will soon  turn into another brothel. A nation deserves statehood only if art is  higher than real estate income," she wrote.

Poghosyan complained that just as there is no Artsakh citizen who  publicly opposes the surrender of Artsakh, no general who publicly  opposes the destruction of the army, there is no musician who is  against the destruction of musical art. She noted that there should  have been a revolt of all musicians against the closure of the  conservatory, but there was none. In this regard, the singer noted  that only a small group of people are horrified by such meanness.

"If you don't want classical music, if you don't want Komitas, then  live with Turkish mugham. But one way or another, Hayk will defeat  Bel, Armenian music will be revived, Khachaturian and Babajanyan,  Spendiaryan and Mirzoyan, our other greats will return, and now the  times of traitors have come, which we, the Armenians, must survive,"  she wrote.

Today, the Rectorate of the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory also  published a statement on its official Facebook page. "We share the  outrage and concern of the music community regarding the future of  the only professional music higher education institution. A solution  to this issue is only possible if we present our united position in a  balanced, reasonable and respectful manner," the statement says.

The source notes that last year the leadership of the Conservatory  presented in writing its opinion and position to the Minister of  Education, Science, Culture and Sports, as well as the Chairman of  the Scientific Committee and the Strategy Development Commission on  the issue of merging art universities.

Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory  Rector Sonna Hovhannisyan also  spoke about the position of the university's management staff during  a meeting of the Academic Council in February of this year. In  particular, the justifications and proposals of the university were  presented in detail in connection with the disagreement on the  implementation of the project to merge universities.

Meanwhile, in a telephone conversation with an ArmInfo correspondent,  Sona Hovhannisyan, the Rector of the Yerevan Komitas State  Conservatory  noted that she could not say anything additional on  this issue, with the exception of the published official statement of  the Rectorate. "I have no comments and no reason to discuss this  topic. "It's all lies," she said. The Rector of the Yerevan Komitas  State Conservatory noted that no one officially told her anything  about the merger of universities. "These are discussions that have  not just begun. It's been discussed for 2 years now. What is unclear  is why exactly now there is such excitement?," Hovhannisyan  concluded.