User:Vivig123/sandbox

Born in Western Canada, Atom Egoyan is now an internationally-known filmmaker who is celebrated for his contemporary work, including personal feature films and other related projects. He is the winner of many awards at international film festivals, such as the Grand Prix and international Critics’ Awards from the Cannes Film Festival and two Academy Award nominations for “The Sweet Hereafter”. Egoyan has also worked in the television and theatre industries, producing Wagner’s Die Walkure which was performed by the Canadian Opera Company in April 2004. Egoyan's creation Ararat (2002) is about the 1915 Armenian Genocide perpetrated by Turks in the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It depicts the consequences and suffering of a child survivor Arshile Gorky, and is an incredibly made-movie for both Armenians and non-Armenians. Modern day Armenian artists have incorporated folk music into more modern jazz and rock genres so that the traditional music still influences their creations. Inga and Anush Arshakyans are an unexpected duo who create ethno, contemporary tracks that are also full of Armenian spirit. After graduating from the Yerevan State Conservatory, the singers started performing together on the professional stage in 2000. Later, in 2009 Inga & Anush represented Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. They ended up taking the tenth place with 92 points. Their music is a balanced fusion of Armenian folk music, rock, jazz and other contemporary genres. Some of their most popular tracks include Menq Enq Mer Sarere and Im Anune Hayastan e.

Another singer from Yerevan, Armenia who is popular among young adults is Armen Gondrachyan, more famously known as ‘Armenchik’. The influence of his father, who was also a singer, inspired Armen to start singing at the young age of seven. In 1989, Armen and his family moved to the United States, while in 1995, at the age of fifteen, he found a band and recorded his first album. In 1988, Armen went back to his hometown in Armenia and lived there for a year, and at the same time released the album, “Armen, memories from Armenia.” This release initiated his path to star-dom. With his current fame, Armen is still very dedicated to the Armenian community. It was in October of 2003 that he had his first concert in Glendale, California. The concert was a sellout, and in that same year, Armen received an award for the best-selling album of the year, “Anunt Inche”.

Isabel Bayrakdarian is an opera singer of Armenian descent and is now known and popular both among Armenians and non-Armenians. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in biomedical engineering, but has become very successful in North America as an opera singer and an active concertizer. She is featured on the Grammy-award winning soundtrack of the infamous film, the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Bayrakdarian is also the winner of four Juno Awards for Best Classical Album (Vocal). Further, she is a featured vocalist of Atom Egoyan’s movie, Ararat, in collaboration with the band “Delerium”, which brought in another Grammy nomination.