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The Van Nuys Civic Orchestra will play a concert this afternoon that includes a symphonic work born in the bitterness of Nazi Berlin and written by a composer who leads an unusual double life: hamburger cook and classical musician.
The three-movement work was composed by Ara Sevanian, proprietor and chief cook at Ara's Armenian Hamburgers, a small wooden shack on the corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Oxnard Street.
Sevanian says he has written hundreds of classical compositions and has had his works performed by major orchestras around the country.
`I Lead a Double Life'
"I lead a double life, and I enjoy them both," said Sevanian, 69, who has operated the hamburger stand for 24 years to support his music.
"It is honest work, to make good food for people. Some classical musicians complain about the lack of demand for their talents. I believe in hard work."
The civic orchestra will play his symphonic sketches, which include, as the third movement, a work titled "Protest," inspired by Sevanian's encounter with prejudice in Berlin after he was captured by the German army in World War II.
Many of Sevanian's works...