This 2 CD-set of Makar Yekmalian's Badarak was produced by the Diocese. The renowned Komitas Chamber Choir of Armenia performs on the recording, under the direction of Khoren Mekanejian, Director of the Music Ministry for the Diocese.Hear the music online.

It was recorded in September 2002, in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia, at the Union of Composers and Musicologists concert hall.

Makar Yekmalian's setting of the Divine Liturgy is the one most universally associated with Armenian sacred music, and is sung every Sunday in Armenian sanctuaries throughout the world.  This alone would ensure his place among the most important Armenian composers of the nineteenth century.  The setting itself was a significant and novel development in Armenian Church music, by virtue of Yekmalian's use of homophonic singing (multiple vocal parts) instead of the traditional monophonic chanting (a single melodic line).

Yekmalian [also rendered "Ekmalyan"] was born in the Armenian city of Vagharshabad (now Etchmiadzin) on February 2, 1856.  At Holy Etchmiadzin's Kevorkian Theological Seminary he studied under Nikoghayos Tashjian, learning the Armenian notational system, recording numerous liturgical chants, and otherwise immersing himself in Armenian music, sacred and secular.  His gifts were acknowledged by Catholicos Kevork IV, who in 1878 arranged for Yekmalian to enter the St. Petersburg Conservatory.  Under the tutelage of Rimsky-Korsakov, Iogansen and Solovyov, Yekmalian mastered the art of composition and became exposed to world's musical masterpieces.  He directed the debut of his vocal-symphonic cantata Der Rose Pilgerhafrt in 1888, the same year he graduated (with honors) from the conservatory--the first Armenian ever to do so.

While still a student in St. Petersburg, Yekmalian began work on a setting of the Divine Liturgy.  He took as his basis melodies recorded by his teacher Tashjian, comparing these to variants he had heard.  In 1893, the completed setting (in three- and four-voice arrangements) was evaluated by St. Petersburg's Palace Chapel Committee, which included such luminaries as Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev; Yekmalian's effort received its unqualified approval.

It was first sung in a church setting in Tiflis, Georgia (where Yekmalian had held a teaching position since 1891).  The response from clergy and laity was positive, prompting the new Catholicos Mkrdich Khrimian to sanction it for official use.  It was published by the Leipzig firm of Breitkoff and Härtel in 1896.

In addition to composing the Divine Liturgy, Yekmalian trained many students (Komitas and Armen Tigranian were private pupils for a time), collected folksongs, and wrote songs, choruses, piano pieces and an orchestral overture.  But at the height of his creative powers, Yekmalian was struck by mental illness.  He died in Tiflis on March 19, 1905, leaving many projects and compositions unfinished.

The Komitas Chamber Choir of Armenia was established as part of the Komitas State Conservatory's Opera Studio.  Founded in 1986 by Hovhannes Mirzoyan, the choir's music director and principal conductor, it participates in operatic productions as well as functioning as an independent group.  The choir has premiered many works by contemporary Armenian, Russian and European composers, including the French composer Pascal Dusapin's oratorio Nibole, debuted in 1995 on the 80th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.  That same year, the choir participated in a production of the opera Promethee XII, by the contemporary Swiss composer Haig Vartan.  The choir made its American debut in October 2001, when it toured five cities as part of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America's observance of the 1700th anniversary of Armenia's conversion to Christianity.  The Komitas Chamber Choir of Armenia records for the Albany (USA) and Melodia (Russia) labels, as well as for Armenian RTV.

Khoren Mekanejian was born in Aleppo, Syria.  While a student at the Holy Etchmiadzin seminary in Armenia, he studied music theory, polyphony and harmony under the private tutelage of Dr. Robert Atayan, the eminent Armenian musicologist.  He went on to study under Tatoul Altounian at Yerevan's Komitas State Conservatory, receiving advanced degrees in 1965 and 1979.  Concurrent with a distinguished choral conducting career, Mekanejian composed his own setting of the Divine Liturgy, which was approved for liturgical use in 1984 by the 130th Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Vasken I.  Maestro Mekanejian currently serves as director of Music Ministry for the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America in New York City.  He is a recipient of the St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Medal and pontifical encyclical from His Holiness Karekin I, the 131st Catholicos of All Armenians.

The Komitas Chamber Choir of Armenia Hovhannes Mirzoyan, principal conductor and artistic director Khoren Mekanejian, guest conductor Father Aram Ohanyan Deacon Karen Avetisyan Deacon Artavazd Zakaryan Chanters Artsvik Demurchyan, Hrachuhi Khumaryan, Narine Ojakhyan, Anna Shiroyan Vache Sharafian, organ Soprano Artsvik Demurchyan Nelli Enokyan Kristina Gevorgyan Era Hovsepian Hrachuhi Khumaryan Gayane Khoyetsyan Lucine Meliksetyan Laura Nalbandyan Jenny Nazaryan Narine Ojakhyan Sofa Sayadyan Anna Shiroyan Alto Marina Arevyan Shushan Darbinyan

Lilit Edigaryan Hermine Egiazaryan Susanna Jamkochyan Nektar Mirakyan Alina Sirunyan Tenor Ghevond Ejurian Serzh Hakobyan Gegham Manukyan Rafik Melkonyan Karen Mirzoyan Perch Papazyan Sargis Sargsyan Sargis Torosyan Suren Zurabyan Bass Garegin Babayan Robert Baveyan Boris Hakobyan Gor Harutyunyan Aram Galstyan Arshak Gasparyan Vahan Makvetsyan Nerses Paronyan