Ara Malikian - Intruso - Tournée

Ara Malikian brings Intruso to Radiant-Bellevue

From our stage at Radiant-Bellevue, we are thrilled to welcome the magnetic presence of Ara Malikian and his new chapter, Intruso. Our hall is built for artists who turn concerts into encounters, and few performers embody that ideal as completely as this singular violinist. With a career that moves effortlessly between classical repertoire, contemporary writing, and the living pulse of global traditions, Ara Malikian arrives with a program that feels both intimate and expansive. Intruso carries the emotional candor he has cultivated in recent years—music born of travel, family, and the experience of standing between cultures and styles—yet it also has the spontaneous energy that audiences at Radiant-Bellevue relish. Expect an evening where virtuosity meets storytelling, where the violin becomes a human voice, and where the artist’s generous conversation with the room guides every crescendo and silence. For us as a venue, it’s a privilege to frame that exchange with the clarity, warmth, and visibility our space was designed to offer.

Intruso is much more than a title; it is a lens through which Ara Malikian invites us to hear what it means to be wonderfully “out of place” and, at the same time, fully present. On our stage, this translates into a fluid dramaturgy: moments of crystalline solo playing that make the room hold its breath; bursts of rhythmic dialogue with his ensemble; and dynamic shifts that lean toward flamenco, Levantine modes, and rock-inflected drive without ever abandoning the precision that has long defined his technique. Radiant-Bellevue is known for putting the music and the audience face to face—clear sightlines, attentive acoustics, and a focused visual field—so the nuances of his bow, the bite of a pizzicato, and the playful glances with his musicians register from every seat. Lighting and sound design will mirror the narrative arc of the set: warm intimacy in confessional passages, vivid color washes when the music opens toward dance, and finely balanced amplification designed to preserve the instrument’s acoustic character while giving the ensemble the elbow room their grooves deserve. This is music that thrives on connection, and our room is tuned to that exact frequency.

What Intruso means on our stage

As a venue that has hosted artists crossing borders of genre and geography, we recognize in Ara Malikian an artist in full motion. Intruso arrives after seasons of intense creative activity: new compositions shaped by parenthood and travel, sold-out halls across Europe and beyond, and recordings that capture the agility of his current ensemble—projects such as Petit Garage and the reflective studio work of Ara have signaled a deepening of his palette. In performance, this translates into a set that treats the violin as narrator: it sighs in recollection, sparks when rhythm beckons, and soars when melody finds a horizon to chase. At Radiant-Bellevue, we hear that narrative with unusual immediacy. The hall’s intimate scale relative to its power allows us to host grandeur without losing detail; you will sense the grain of the bow hair and the quicksilver response of his left hand while still feeling the full impact of the band’s percussive cadences. Expect improvisational flashes, reimagined classics from different traditions, and newly minted pieces that anchor the Intruso journey—arranged to breathe with our room. From the first downbeat, the concert will feel tailored to the architecture: entrances and exits paced like scenes, audience interaction woven as a structural element, and a finale that leaves resonance in the rafters long after the last note fades. This is precisely the kind of live experience Radiant-Bellevue was built to illuminate, and we are proud to host it.