The College of Arts and Humanities will present a special concert, “Music in Gorky’s World,” at 8 p.m. Monday, April 17, at the Wahlberg Recital Hall in the Music Building (2380 E. Keats Ave.) at California State University, Fresno.

The event is part of Fresno’s Gorky Festival, which pays tribute to Arshile Gorky, the abstract-expressionist painter who fled the Armenian genocide in Turkey and settled in New York.

The concert will feature a dazzling evening of colorful music from Armenia and the vibrant rhythms of New York in the first half of the 20th century. Dr. Maria Amirkhanian, a lecturer in piano in the Music Department, is coordinating the concert.

The concert will feature works by Makar Ekmalian, Komitas, Eduard Bagdasarian, Aram Khachaturian, Edward Mirzoyan, Alexander Harutanian, Aram Babajanian, George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Thelonius Monk and W.C. Handy and arrangements by the Hollywood Saxophone Quartet.

Performers include Dzovik Yaralian (soprano), Armen Ketenjian (organ), Vartan Tigranian (violin), Naira Shahsouvarian (piano) and Amirkhanian (piano).

Admission to the concert is free; however, seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-seated basis.

For more information on the concert: 559.278.2654.

Several other Fresno State events are also a part of the Gorky Festival sponsored by the Fresno Art Museum and the Armenian Museum:

• British author and actress Nouritza Matossian will “A Case of Mistaken Identity: Why Arshile Gorky Changed His Name” for the University Lecture Series on Tuesday, April 18 and perform a play about the artist April 19. Ticket information: 559.278.2078 or www.fresnostatenews.com/2006/04/oorkyauthor.htm.

• Dr. Laura Meyer, an assistant professor of art history at Fresno State will discuss “Arshile Gorky: Why Abstraction?” at 4 p.m. April 18 in the Conley Lecture Hall. Free admission. Details: 278-2516 pr 278-3056.

• The Fresno State Department of Art and Design is exhibiting student art inspired by Gorky at Fresno City Hall, 8 a.m-5 p.m. weekdays through Thursday, April 27. Free admission. Details: 278-2516 or 278-3056.