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About Us
The Suni Project: Music Preservation received 501(c) 3 status
as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization in 1995.
The Suni Project collects and maintains an archive of music
scores of Grikor Mirzaian Suni,
writings by and about him, and recordings,
in conjunction with the archive in Armenia. We foster performances,
recordings, translations and publication.
Most of Grikor Mirzaian Suni's music
compositions are out of print or unpublished. We look for
people who have memories of Suni or who have materials, always
searching for the lost manuscripts. If you have some, please
share them with us!
Grikor Mirzaian Suni was recognized
early on as a great talent, and developed into a charismatic
and dynamic force wherever he went organizing folk choruses,
training musicians, conducting, composing, and collecting,
arranging and teaching folk songs for concert presentation.
Due to war, genocide, revolution, collapse of empires, politics,
and illness, he had to flee again and again, leaving behind
music, choruses, and students. Eventually due to his politics,
especially his criticism of Stalin, his music and recognition
was suppressed. The Suni Project works to restore recognition
to this great musician and his beautiful music.
Board Of Directors:
Edmond Yervant Azadian of Masco Corporation
in Taylor, Michigan is an author, lecturer and journalist.
Born in Egypt, he is active in Armenian cultural affairs in
the international Armenian diaspora, from Detroit to California,
(the whole US), to Armenia, South America, Europe, and Asia,
wherever there are Armenian institutions and publications,
including newspapers.
Nora Azadian is a retired Armenian language
and art teacher of the Alex and Marie Manoogian AGBU Day School
in Southfield, Michigan. Born in Cairo, she's active internationally
in Armenian culture especially in music, art, and drama.
Alice Berberian Haidostian is a pianist,
a retired director of Detroit-area Armenian choirs, and former
piano student of Grikor Mirzaian Suni. She is very active
in promoting presentations of Armenian cultural treasures
especially in music, most recently Armenian operas presented
in San Francisco in Detroit.
Timothy Hofer is associate professor of
medicine and a physician researcher at the University of Michigan,
with experience and interest in Armenian cultural affairs
especially music and history, and in the regions of the former
Soviet Union.
Armena Marderosian is a pianist, on the
faculty of the Ann Arbor Suzuki Institute, and is the pianist
and director for The Suni Project: Music Preservation. She
is the wife of Grikor Mirzaian Suni's grandson Ronald Grigor
Suny.
Lewis Siegelbaum is professor of history
at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan with
interest in music, and Armenian culture and history. His field
is Soviet and Russian history.
Ronald Grigor Suny is professor of political
science at the University of Chicago, and former professor
of history (specialist in Soviet and Armenian history) at
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He was the first holder
of the Alex Manoogian Chair of Modern Armenian History at
the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is a grandson of
Grikor Mirzaian Suni.
Anahit Toumajan is a teacher of Armenian
language at the Alex and Marie Manoogian AGBU Armenian Day
School in Southfield, Michigan. Born in Armenia, she is a
translator with expertise in Armenian dialects, and has special
interest in Armenian music.
Dickran Toumajan is professor of Armenian
language at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He
studied Armenian language at the State University in Yerevan,
Armenia, and is a translator. He is the nephew of Armenian
musicologist and composer Mihran Toumajan.
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