An immersive and intimate program centered on the human voice, Mayrig (“mother” in Armenian) is a 65-minute show created by Karen Ouzounian and Lembit Beecher in which the voices of Karen’s mother and grandmother are interwoven with original arrangements of Armenian music of her family’s ancestral home of Anatolia, songs and stories drawn from their post-genocide home of Lebanon, the music of Charles Aznavour and Marin Marais, and recent works by Beecher, Layale Chaker, Nathalie Joachim, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, and Ouzounian.

Dear Mountains is a 42-minute work for SATB chorus, solo cello, oud, and percussion co-composed by Karen Ouzounian and Lembit Beecher. Juxtaposing stories told and retold in Karen Ouzounian’s family with scenes of music-making across the Armenian diaspora over the last 100 years, Dear Mountains brings into the present moment a world of personal stories and wider histories of migration and rebirth. Commissioned by Cantori New York and premiered in New York City in November 2024.

A new cello concerto composed by Lembit Beecher for Karen Ouzounian, Tell Me Again received its world premiere with conductor Eric Jacobsen and the Orlando Philharmonic, and its West Coast premiere with conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the 2024 Cabrillo Festival Orchestra.