By Paul Chaderjian
August 1, 2002
Fresno – The Armenian Community School will kick off the school year with a benefit concert featuring internationally popular Armenian recording and performing star Nuné (NOO-neh).
The fundraiser featuring Nuné will take place on Saturday, September 14th at 7:00 p.m. at the Tower Theatre in Fresno -- one week before Armenia's pop diva appears in concert at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. After the Southern California performance, Nuné will perform in San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Washington, D.C., Toronto and Montreal.
"When I heard Nuné was planning a tour," said Armenian Community School principal Rosie Bedrosian, "I asked her managers if she would consider performing in Fresno to help us out again. Nuné agreed, and we can't think of a better way to kick off our school year. We're very excited."
"The Nuné Phenomenon is a new one for the Armenian Diaspora," said publicist Houri Vartanian. "At no other time in the modern-day Armenian experience has one performer captured so much attention in such a short period of time."
Vartanian said the momentum which has resulted in Nune's meteoric rise to acclaim has been building slowly and was evident in her sell-out musical stage production reported about on CNN International two months ago.
Nuné’s Armenia concerts in late May attracted more than six thousand fans and featured a cast and crew of more than four hundred. The Republic of Armenia's first foreign minister, Fresno native Raffi Hovannissian, called the concerts "unprecedented."
Tickets for the Armenian Community School benefit concert in Fresno cost $25 and are available at the Tower Theatre box office (559) 485-9050 and at the Armenian Community School of Fresno (559) 233-1800.
Information about Nune, photographs, media clips, Nune's music videos and a 24-hour stream of Nune's music are available on-line at www.nune.am.