The programme, below, originated by pianist Martin Berkofsky, the Alan Hovhaness International Research Centre's North American Coordinator, was given by the Alan Hovhaness Chamber Orchestra with soloists Seda Odabashyan, soprano, and Martin Berkofsky, piano:
Gordon Rumson: In Memory of Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness: Prayer of St. Gregory
Sibelius: Impromptu
Alan Hovhaness: Avak The Healer
Alan Hovhaness: Lousadzak
David Sakoyan: The Music
+++++
Jean Nandi, the only child of Alan Hovhaness, was born in 1935 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was christened Jean Christina Hovhaness after her Godfather, Jean Sibelius, whom Alan Hovhaness revered, visited, and with whom he corresponded extensively.
Until 1968, she was a teacher and researcher in endocrinology at the University of California in Berkeley, where she had completed her early studies in zoology.
She married Satyabrata Nandi, a cancer researcher and biologist. Professor Nandi later became a full professor at the University.
Interest in music was first awakened by her composer father. When a progressing degenerative form of muscular dystrophy forced her to limit her activities, she first devoted herself to harpsichord performance and teaching. She authored many pedagogical books for the harpsichord.
Remarkably, she always wished to transcend her limits. From her wheelchair, she became a leader in campaigns to recognise and promote the rights of the disabled. Her book, Unconventional Wisdom, was praised as "a true model of human achievement."
Jean Nandi and Alan Hovhaness performed together at a 1978 Berkeley, California concert. Since her early years, her father wrote and dedicated compositions to her.
Jean Nandi's home city, Berkeley, California, honoured her by dedicating an entire month in her name in recognition of her extensive humanitarian work for the disabled.
She is an active supporter of the Alan Hovhaness International Research Centre in Yerevan.