Organ Recital Hall, University Center for the Arts, March 5, 2023, Fort Collins, Colorado.

Tim Van Schmidt

Dynamic, kinetic, textured — and excellent.

I expected the March 5 Lincoln Center show by Naghash Ensemble at the UCA’s fine Organ Recital Hall to be interesting, but I didn’t expect it to be all of those things. That’s the reward for checking out the unfamiliar.

And Naghash is playing in unfamiliar territory. That is, music based on writings by medieval Armenian mystic Mkrtich Naghash.

However, the Naghash Ensemble’s music sounds fresh thanks to the melding of the past and present by Armenian-American composer, director, and pianist John Hodian.

The rest of the ensemble includes master Armenian musicians trained in their homeland. But the “crown jewels” of the group are three female vocalists who sing like angels with perfect harmonies and otherworldly voices.

The performance was “truly transfixing”, as my concert companion said.