The program's first two works were composed by Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian, close colleagues and so-called titans of Soviet music. Prokofiev’s four-movement Classical Symphony was premiered when he was only 26 years old and greatly contributed to his rising career. Khachaturian’s colorful and evocative Masquerade Suite brings together selections from incidental music written for a 1941 play. The second half of the evening is devoted to Egyptian-Armenian composer and choir director Garbis Aprikian’s oratorio La Naissance de David de Sassoun. The piece marries Western musical technique with Armenian melodies to tell the story of David of Sassoun, the national Armenian hero.