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This episode is brought to you by Dr. Jon Skidmore and the team of Musicians Path to Peak Performance,

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helping artists conquer performance anxiety for over 30 years.

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Stage fright is not a dreaded disease.

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I'm Dr. Jon Skidmore, performance psychologist.

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And in my new course, 30 Days to Peak Performance,

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you'll be learning the tools and skills and a method to turn your next performance into a peak performance.

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You can learn more at drjohnskidmore.com.

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Hello, PianoPod friends and listeners.

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Welcome back to the show.

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You are tuning into the third episode of season five, and we are so thrilled to introduce our guest,

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award-winning pianist, composer, educator, and my dear friend, Dr. Hayk Arsenyan.

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The music you just heard at the beginning of this episode is one of the three sonatas in D by Antonio Soler,

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a Spanish composer whose works bridge the late Baroque and early classical periods performed by today's guest.

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Hayk is a scholar of Antonio Soler, and recently he published a book about the composer titled El Mundo de Antonio Soler.

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So today you'll get an in-depth look at this fascinating,

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lesser-known composer as well as explore Dr. Arsenian's adventurous and exciting musical career.

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Later in the episode, we'll dive into more philosophical discussions on how classical music can thrive in the contemporary world

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and how we can authentically reach out to audiences.

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A big welcome to all our first-time listeners and viewers.

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I am Yukimi Song, a classical pianist and educator based in New York City.

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Whether you are pursuing a piano career, working in the classical music industry, or simply passionate about piano music,

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this podcast is your backstage pass to the fascinating world of piano.

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Let me give you a quick overview of the PianoPod.

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In our bi-weekly episodes, we dive into captivating conversations with guests who are making waves in the classical music industry.

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Our mission is to build a vibrant community that embraces fresh ideas, ensuring classical music stays alive and meaningful in our ever-changing world.

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If you haven't already, please check out the introductory episode of Season 5 to get a chance of what's in store this season.

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And don't forget to catch up on our previous seasons available on your favorite podcast platforms or on our YouTube channel.

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Now, let me tell you a bit more about today's guest.

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Dr. Hayk Arsenyan is a renowned pianist, composer, educator, and scholar based in New York City.

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He has performed in some of the world's most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Salle Corteau in Paris, and Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow,

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as well as in recitals across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas.

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A native of Armenia, Haik made his orchestral debut at just 11 years old, performing his own composition with the Armenian Philharmonic.

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He later made his European debut with the Radio France National Philharmonic Orchestra, earning a platinum medal from the city of Paris.

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In addition to his extensive performance career, Haik is a scholar of 18th century Iberian music with a particular focus on the works of Antonio Soler.

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His book on Soler has been published in Spain and his expertise in Baroque and classical repertoire is widely recognized.

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He is also a longtime professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he continues to shape the next generation of musicians.

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Before we dive in, I want to take a moment to thank our amazing TPP fans and loyal listeners for your continued support.

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If you enjoy the show, please take a moment to rate and review it on your favorite podcast platform, because every rating and review will help people find the show.

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Now, get ready to uncover the secrets behind Dr. Haik Arsenian's remarkable multifaceted career as a pianist, composer, and educator and scholar.

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Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

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You are listening to the PianoPod, where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry about how they are bringing the piano into the future and thriving in a complex, ever evolving world.

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Welcome to the PianoPod Haik. Or should I address you as Dr. Arsenian after all these years?

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I think after all of these years and our friendship, I think we definitely don't need those suffixes and other, you know, admissions.

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I think we're good friends.

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Great.

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So even my students don't address me as doctor.

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You know, the only time, in fact, when I get something with Dr. Arsenyan, I know that they want money because it's the fundraising department of the university.

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I see. Yes, yes, yes.

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I'm not sure how effective that doctor thing is.

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Okay.

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Well, but I'm trying to heal people, you know.

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Hey, there we go.

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That's right.

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We're putting two years.

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Yes, yes, yes.

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But anyway, thank you, my friend, for joining us today.

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Thank you very much for hosting me.

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And so for our listeners who perhaps do not know, Haik and I have been really friends for many years.

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And we met through an incredible initiative called Open Forum created by Eric Hunter as part of the nonprofit organization, wonderful organization, the Piano Teachers Congress of New York.

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And for those who are new to the PianoPod, Eric Hunter is a pianist, also and a composer who created this podcast theme tune.

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And he was one of the original members of the PianoPod team during season one.

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So big shout out to Eric Hunter.

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If you're listening.

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Anyway, Haik.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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Coming back to you.

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So, I have recently had the pleasure of attending your beautiful concert at St.

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John's in the Village with the violinist Philip Bugatti.

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And we'll get into the performance a little later.

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But I have to say, even after so many years of our friendship, I didn't realize the rest of your accomplishments as an artist, educator and scholar.

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Your journey, you know, life's journey, even from Armenia to Paris to Moscow and eventually to New York City is truly, truly remarkable.

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Thank you very much.

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Thank you.

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Yeah.

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And speaking of your scholarly work, I know you are deeply passionate about the music of Antonio Soler.

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Am I pronouncing OK?

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Absolutely right.

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So for our listeners who may not be familiar with Antonio Soler, he is was a fascinating but also lesser known composer and especially compared to contemporaries like Scarlatti.

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So let's start with the topic of Antonio Soler and your passion and obsession with his music.

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Could you introduce us to who Soler was and tell us more about his repertoire, particularly his sonatas and the famous fandango and his contributions to the world of classical music?

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Absolutely. Thank you.

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So let me tell you that I found I discovered Soler absolutely randomly in Moscow at the main library when I was looking for a Baroque work to perform for my upcoming exam back then.

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And I wanted to find something lesser played, you know, than Bach and Handel and, you know, and even Scarlatti.

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You know, so it was basically a Baroque early classical. That was the era that I had to find the work for.

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And I found Froberger, which was fascinating.

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I loved it. And I took those scores.

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Now, right next to Froberger, it was a book by, you know, Book of Sonatas by Soler.

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And, you know, it was supposed to be alphabetically placed, but F and S are definitely far apart.

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So somebody just misplaced Soler next to Froberger, just especially for me.

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So I took that book and read through the sonatas in my mind.

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And I understood, OK, I'm kind of falling in love.

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I have to take this book with me and read through them at the instrument at home, which I did.

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And I, since that very moment, Soler entered into my life and is going with me strongly.

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And later, much, much later, I, when it was time for me to choose my dissertation topic for my doctorate,

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at that point, I had already been playing dozens of his sonatas.

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And it was clear that this is the composer.

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This is the topic that I want to pursue and even learn for myself too, you know, much deeper.

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Because that's also what it does when you are getting into doctorate studies and you have to research.

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You are learning so much more.

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And so Soler, we don't really know when he was born exactly, but he was baptized in 1729.

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Yes, it's one of those cases of early music when we don't know when he was born.

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Was baptized in 1729 in Catalonia.

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At the age of 23, he moved to El Escorreal, which was the monastery summer palace, not far from Madrid.

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And that's when he also died in 1783.

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So he served the court, the monastery, the church until his death.

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His contribution is quite large in terms of piano sonatas and that very controversial fandango,

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but to me the best fandango that any of the composers at the time tried.

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But I will also tell you controversial because some scholars think that it may not be actually by Soler.

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I think it is. Yes.

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So he has a lot of religious and choir works, but for the piano, it's mainly just the sonatas and the fandango.

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Sonatas are incredible.

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I think, you know, honestly, as far as his legacy, as far as his importance for music,

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he belongs to that style of stile galan, which is again that bridging, you know, style between post-baroque pre-classical.

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And in my opinion, anything that is in the bridge, that connection is really what belongs to the past and predicts the future

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and is in that very ever-changing, you know, very vibrant and colorful present, you know, that is all it's almost boiling,

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you know, present that is about to turn into something else, but it is very much the past too.

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So when you are listening to Soler sonatas, you can clearly hear the baroque and you can clearly hear the classical,

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but it's neither or.

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And that's what I really adore about his works.

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And as opposed to Scarlatti, which he kind of reminds me in style, but he's a little bit later than Scarlatti.

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And he's Spanish and that Spanish idiom is strongly represented in his music and much more organic.

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Because let's remember, Scarlatti was not Spanish.

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He was requested to compose Spanish music.

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He was Italian.

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He was brought by Maria Bárbara da Vaganza, who was a Portuguese princess, and then she married into Spanish the king and brought Scarlatti with him to Spain.

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So this is an Italian who went to Iberia and was requested to compose Iberian music, well, namely Spanish.

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But then there was the Spanish composer, Antonio Soler, who actually never made it to Madrid.

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He always stayed provincial.

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He stayed there.

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So it's an interesting, you know, thought that probably a lot of cultures also had that little bit of that foreigner eye, you know,

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to see how the outsider is doing, in my opinion.

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But again, if we are thinking about that bridging moment, it was bridging not only in terms of styles, but it was also bridging in terms of the instrument, too.

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It was the time when harpsichord was turning into a piano.

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Right. And it was also at a time, you know, up until even late Mozart notes, composers at some point even gave up to give up and specify what instrument exactly it was written for,

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because it was interchangeable.

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It was for the harpsichord, but also the pianoforte and clavichord.

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And so they just started writing keyboards.

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So this is again that bridging style.

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Right. So I think that contribution is really inspiring for the music that was to come.

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Interesting. Now, what sparked your interest in this composer?

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You happened to stumble upon his score.

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But what exactly was it, the attraction?

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And also, you're interested in 18th century Iberian music.

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What drew you to specifically for this genre or time period and then the region as well?

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As I said, I absolutely just stumbled upon.

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I wasn't looking for anything Spanish.

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I think I didn't even know about its existence back then.

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I was quite young too, 18, 19 years old when I discovered it.

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Spain and everything Spanish, I think is fascinating to me.

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I think it's very distinct in its culture.

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If you can listen to 18th century, I don't want these other cultures to be offended.

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But I feel like there is that sort of a European ear, European style,

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where you won't necessarily hear a huge difference between French 18th century,

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German, English, you know, Austrian.

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However, I feel like anything Spanish in general,

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whether it's 18th century or whatever other century,

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anything Spanish just really strikes as Spanish.

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And you don't have to be a musician to kind of get into that pose of like,

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oh, I'm going to dance, you know, and get my hands ready for clapping.

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I feel like it's so distinct.

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And even the food, everything is just about Spain very different.

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And to me, very attractive.

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And when I opened those scores, even without the instrument,

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I was kind of reading through in my mind, I heard those idioms.

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You know, I heard that those harmonies are very, very peculiar in a very good way.

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You know, that's harmonic, the progressions are not standard.

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The length of the phrases are really not symmetrical.

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Those changes are very abrupt and shocking and very, very nice.

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And as it was, as I was hearing this in my head,

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later on at home when I was playing the instrument,

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I understood that with each phrase, I am more and more drawn to this.

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But I will tell you also, the attraction towards early music has started much,

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much earlier in my life as well.

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When I was a kid, and even elementary school, elementary to middle school in Armenia,

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well, I went to a specialized school for gifted and talented in music.

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I was affiliated by the conservatory, the state conservatory in Yerevan,

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although there was a violinist then.

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We had an orchestra, several orchestras, but also there was an orchestra,

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the chamber orchestra, the conductor and the director of which,

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Daniel Errazus, was a specialist of ancient music, ancient and early music.

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So we played a lot of not only early Armenian music,

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but we also played a lot of early European music.

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So we played, you know, Froberger also, we played a lot of early music in general.

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And I loved, you know, the genre.

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And he used to say this one thing too, that, you know,

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how delicate this and how transparent is early music.

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He would compare early music to the white sheets, you know,

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as opposed to the very colorful and lots of patterns and flowers and bright signs

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and all of that, of the much later music.

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He would say this is white sheet and the golden simplicity

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where any little stain is hurt by everyone.

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You have to be pristine.

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It's that pristine simpleness, you know, simplicity.

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And I was always attracted by that, you know, simple, that minimalism almost,

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that pure, that pristine soul.

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And at the same time, how that is getting ornamented also in such an elegant way.

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Yeah, but now to play those early music on the modern piano has its own challenges, right?

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Because it's basically we are transcribing because they are two completely different instruments.

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But as you mentioned, his time period was so after, let's say after Scarlatti.

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So he was sort of in between the time period from Baroque to classical.

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So, but do you still find that the notations are a bit different

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from what we usually use on the modern instrument?

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Is there a specific challenge to you encounter playing his music?

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His music or just in general, any early music.

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I feel like when you are playing that music on the modern instrument,

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that on its own is already a challenge, right?

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Because you need to keep that pertinence of the historical style,

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but apply it to the current instrument.

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And that is in fact what my book is about or what initially my doctorate,

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my doctoral dissertation was about.

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So how to perform the music of Antonio Soler in this case on the example of T. Sonata

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on the modern instrument while keeping the pertinence of style, the historical style.

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That of course demands research and an understanding of in general early music style

215
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and ornamentation and articulation, the dynamics used.

216
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So now there is the question if the historical instrument had the capacity

217
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of the modern instrument and the composers had access to that,

218
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do we think that they would ignore that capacity?

219
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They would not ignore.

220
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Bach when he was presented with a replica of Christopher piano

221
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by another harpsichord maker, a German harpsichord maker,

222
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who made a copy of it, the stem piano, he loved it and he approved it.

223
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Now whether that was why it was not accepted and purchased by the court

224
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and why the court did not turn the harpsichord into the piano,

225
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:02,100
that's a different question.

226
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And a lot of, you know, the courts would go back and forth between turning them

227
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into the pianos and then converting back into harpsichords.

228
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So more able to do it.

229
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:16,200
That's a different question.

230
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This is something again we are talking about the bridges

231
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:23,900
and that's the connection and sometimes you're afraid of crossing that bridge.

232
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But I think that anything to keep current and to keep alive,

233
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we need to perform and we need to perform also on the modern instrument.

234
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I strongly believe that we should not play early music on the early instrument.

235
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We should play it on the modern instrument.

236
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Again, keeping the pertinent self style.

237
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This is the key.

238
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You know, it's very interesting in terms of, you know, performance practices

239
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and use of the capacities of modern instruments in performing a work

240
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by an early composer.

241
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I remember when I heard first time, I heard André Schitt play

242
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Bach's Fulbert Variations at Symphony Hall in Chicago.

243
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And midway performance, suddenly I noticed that he was not using pedal.

244
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I think that's, that is the statement I would make that,

245
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you know, you are using the modern instrument the way you want to produce a sound,

246
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a specific sound that you want for this specific work.

247
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Not to make a statement that, okay, well Bach's instrument did not have pedals

248
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and not using pedals.

249
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But you're not using pedals to create the sound that you want to,

250
00:23:57,900 --> 00:23:59,400
the timbre you want to.

251
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:05,800
It happens so that you get that sound without using the pedal.

252
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:13,800
However, it's so organically done that the audience is not seeing it,

253
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is not noticing it, is not hearing the absence of pedal.

254
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:25,100
So it's not for the sake of novelty or it's not for the sake of a statement.

255
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It's for the sake of music.

256
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I use pedal.

257
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,900
Although I will tell you, I was so heavily influenced by that shock, you know,

258
00:24:31,900 --> 00:24:37,400
oh my God, that I did play Bach for a while without pedal.

259
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:42,300
And I'm so thankful to that experience because I do use pedal when I play Bach

260
00:24:42,300 --> 00:24:44,200
or Soler or any early music.

261
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I do use pedal.

262
00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:48,700
But I think for a couple of years of not using pedal in,

263
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and in fact also very often even in the romantic music or whatever I'm playing,

264
00:24:55,100 --> 00:24:58,400
when I'm practicing, I hardly ever use pedal.

265
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:04,500
But that all started, you know, because I wanted to not use pedal and replicate

266
00:25:04,500 --> 00:25:08,900
that sound, that incredible sound that I was so enchanted by, you know,

267
00:25:08,900 --> 00:25:11,000
that I heard by Schiff.

268
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:17,300
And that helped me hear the lines and hear the phrases and everything so much better

269
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that when I started actually using pedal, I started using pedal as spice,

270
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as something addition, as not a necessity, as not something that is automatically going there,

271
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but as something that I want to, that had a specific purpose of extracting

272
00:25:36,500 --> 00:25:43,600
and creating the sound that I wanted, not a sound that I wanted to sound like his sound,

273
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which at first I wanted to, you know.

274
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Yeah.

275
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And I'm thankful to that desire and so thankful to his sound like it was a revolution.

276
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It was a revolution for me.

277
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And just the fact that I noticed it like, I don't know, half an hour in after the concert,

278
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it was that organic, you know.

279
00:26:06,500 --> 00:26:10,100
So that kind of brings me to the idea of authenticity.

280
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And that's probably what we are always thinking about.

281
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I think authentic is actually what is convincing, what is organic.

282
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:21,100
Yes, it is.

283
00:26:21,100 --> 00:26:22,900
It needs to be based on research.

284
00:26:22,900 --> 00:26:25,400
It needs to be based on the knowledge.

285
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:32,200
But it also needs to be authentic to the times when we are breathing.

286
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:37,400
It needs to be now because the instrument, even if I go to the Met Museum

287
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:43,500
and play on the Cristofori piano, I'm not playing at the monastery or the palace where I'm playing.

288
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So I'm not at that acoustic anymore.

289
00:26:46,700 --> 00:26:53,500
I'm not playing for the music, I mean for the audience that that music was played for.

290
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So the acoustics is different.

291
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The ears are different.

292
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Everything is different.

293
00:26:57,700 --> 00:27:04,000
So the authenticity of, in its global sense, is already broken.

294
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,600
So how am I feeling it right now?

295
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:12,600
And how am I transferring it to the ears of the right now?

296
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,400
How organic is it?

297
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,400
That's probably how authentic it is.

298
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,000
Do you know what I mean?

299
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:20,300
Totally. Thank you.

300
00:27:20,300 --> 00:27:25,200
And you know, this season's theme of the piano part is authenticity.

301
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,000
So thank you for that.

302
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:28,600
Wow, beautifully said.

303
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:29,900
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

304
00:27:29,900 --> 00:27:31,500
But yeah, it makes sense.

305
00:27:31,500 --> 00:27:36,000
It's not just about respecting the past and try to play like the past,

306
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:44,800
but also how you interpret that in terms of bringing it into the century, right?

307
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:46,500
Mm-hmm. Yes.

308
00:27:46,500 --> 00:27:50,100
And I think early music is just in general so creative.

309
00:27:50,100 --> 00:27:56,500
I feel like as performers, well, in general, performers should be co-creators.

310
00:27:56,500 --> 00:28:02,000
But I feel like that co-creating power is given even more in early music.

311
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:09,000
That we are given that base, almost like that, the model, right?

312
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,300
And we are asked, or the model and the theme,

313
00:28:13,300 --> 00:28:18,200
and we are asked to design this costumes and entire wardrobe

314
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,800
to dress that model in a way.

315
00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:26,400
And then we're interchanging this hat with this suit

316
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,500
and with this shoes with this whatever.

317
00:28:29,500 --> 00:28:36,000
And we are just changing and it's sometimes so fun to really remodel it.

318
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:40,000
And sometimes that remodeling is happening right on the spot,

319
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,000
you know, on the stage.

320
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,300
And that's co-creating and that's improvising.

321
00:28:44,300 --> 00:28:49,800
And that's probably what was later on found in jazz music and contemporary music.

322
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:55,200
So that's why I feel like there is a lot for us, for performers of that music.

323
00:28:55,200 --> 00:29:00,500
There is a lot in common within early and now,

324
00:29:00,500 --> 00:29:04,800
and the contemporary music, the early music.

325
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:05,700
Interesting.

326
00:29:05,700 --> 00:29:12,500
And maybe that's why I was bringing that early music into the contemporary stage

327
00:29:12,500 --> 00:29:17,800
and feel and playing it on the contemporary instrument is also vital.

328
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,800
And also is adding to that authenticity.

329
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:21,500
Right.

330
00:29:21,500 --> 00:29:26,800
Then I kind of want to talk about your project, solarsworld.com.

331
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:32,700
I visited the website and brings together your book and concert programs

332
00:29:32,700 --> 00:29:37,100
and master classes focused on the late Baroque and early classical music.

333
00:29:37,100 --> 00:29:40,900
And of course, Antonio, so, so layers.

334
00:29:40,900 --> 00:29:41,500
So I'm sorry.

335
00:29:41,500 --> 00:29:43,000
It's a slayersworld.com.

336
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,000
My pronunciation.

337
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:44,800
Sorry.

338
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:50,500
Your newly published book, you mentioned a little briefly at the beginning of this episode.

339
00:29:50,500 --> 00:29:57,300
El mundo de Antonio Soler as to the existing literature on Soler.

340
00:29:57,300 --> 00:30:00,000
What language did you write this in?

341
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:00,700
Right.

342
00:30:00,700 --> 00:30:03,100
The book is part of my doctoral dissertation.

343
00:30:03,100 --> 00:30:09,700
It was defended back in 2009 and was published by the University of Iowa Press.

344
00:30:09,700 --> 00:30:12,500
And it's on the public review.

345
00:30:12,500 --> 00:30:17,000
Then later on, right before the pandemic,

346
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:22,000
it was translated by the biographer of Alicia de la Rocha, Monica Barges.

347
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:29,200
It was translated into Spanish to be published in Barcelona by a very famous

348
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:35,200
and one of the oldest publishing houses, Valo Editorial de Música in Barcelona.

349
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,900
And it was very symbolic for me because well, they are a big publisher,

350
00:30:38,900 --> 00:30:41,500
not only in Spain, but in general in Europe.

351
00:30:41,500 --> 00:30:46,500
And when I was studying in Paris as a teenager, I used some of their books too.

352
00:30:46,500 --> 00:30:56,000
Some of the books in my classes, you know, and it was symbolic for me to have my own book published by them.

353
00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:02,100
Later, several years later, many years later, of course, because of the pandemic,

354
00:31:02,100 --> 00:31:08,500
the project of Soler and later on in 2022, it was finally published in Barcelona.

355
00:31:08,500 --> 00:31:15,900
And now I am touring the book with presentations and concerts and master classes.

356
00:31:15,900 --> 00:31:23,700
I am performing nine of his sonatas and the fandango in about an hour long concert program.

357
00:31:23,700 --> 00:31:32,500
So there is a nice body of program, you know, of information written on Soler,

358
00:31:32,500 --> 00:31:41,400
but there is not that much written on the performance aspect of the sonatas

359
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:46,700
and especially on performance of his music on the modern instrument.

360
00:31:46,700 --> 00:31:53,400
So this book is a performance guide to how to perform this music on the modern instrument.

361
00:31:53,400 --> 00:32:22,400
That's what it was.

362
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:41,400
Now, can you just tell me a little bit about this fandango, please?

363
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:46,400
The sensational fandango by Soler.

364
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:48,400
The sensational fandango by Soler.

365
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,400
And you know that there is also fandango by Sarlat as well.

366
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:58,400
And a lot of those composers at the time, they were asked to write fandango.

367
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:02,900
But here's the thing, Sarlati was living also at the court too.

368
00:33:02,900 --> 00:33:05,100
And he was not a church musician.

369
00:33:05,100 --> 00:33:11,900
He was not Padre Sarlati as opposed to Antonio Soler, who was Padre Antonio Soler.

370
00:33:11,900 --> 00:33:18,400
And fandango is not a dance that is supposed to be written,

371
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:23,400
but it was created by someone of a religious character.

372
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,400
You know, it was quite an erotic dance.

373
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:31,400
So that only was already scandalous.

374
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:38,400
However, in the 1750s, there is two years when we don't really know what happened to Soler.

375
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,400
He left the monastery those two years.

376
00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:45,400
It's very interesting that his manuscripts and the dates are very sporadic.

377
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:49,400
So a lot of the dates don't really go chronologically.

378
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:55,400
A lot of the sonatas, many sonatas don't have dates also.

379
00:33:55,400 --> 00:34:00,400
So it's very difficult to judge when it's written what.

380
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,400
And one can judge, perhaps one is by the development of his style.

381
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:09,400
We can't really tell how many exactly, how many sonatas he wrote as well,

382
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:13,400
because some of the sonatas could be paired, some of them not.

383
00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,400
The whole date situation is so confusing.

384
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:20,400
We don't really, really know when exactly the fandango was written.

385
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:26,400
However, scholars believe that if it was written by Soler,

386
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:31,400
it probably was written during those two years in the 1750s

387
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:36,400
when he was out and about, probably dancing fandango.

388
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:43,400
Yeah, but it's the 50s, people say, so maybe that's...

389
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,400
I love that.

390
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:47,400
The 1750s.

391
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:49,400
Yeah, it's the 50s. Remember that time?

392
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:53,400
Yeah, so maybe he was the hippie of the 1750s.

393
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:54,400
Yeah, who knows?

394
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,400
A hippie pastor, yes.

395
00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:00,400
But, you know, I like that idea.

396
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:03,400
You know, that open-mindedness, I can tell you one thing,

397
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:07,400
as a composer, it definitely was very open-minded.

398
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:13,400
And I think in general, I would even say extravagant,

399
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:19,400
and probably extravagant that really fits to that whole,

400
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:26,400
in my Armenian opinion, of Spanish culture to be very extravagant

401
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,400
in a very cool, cool way.

402
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:35,400
When you even think of where Soler lived in El Escorial,

403
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:39,400
I mean, on one hand, it's a very somber place,

404
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:44,400
because it's not only the somber palace of the Spanish royals,

405
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,400
but it's actually the burial place also.

406
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:52,400
So it's a mausoleum, if you want to think.

407
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:54,400
It's also a monastery.

408
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,400
Speaking of the burial place, for me,

409
00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:02,400
it's extravagant to have your own coffin with your name right there

410
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,400
when you are still alive, and to see that.

411
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:11,400
But it's also an approach towards death that makes that death expected

412
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:16,400
and kind of welcomed and normal and not scary,

413
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,400
and part of that organic life.

414
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:24,400
And it's an extravagant thought, but I love it.

415
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:30,400
And to have a dance, sarabanda, that is a funeral dance,

416
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,400
I mean, are we talking about extravagant,

417
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:37,400
and are we talking about open-mindedness?

418
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,400
Absolutely. And I love this.

419
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:47,400
And I feel like it's a beautiful way to approach life and death,

420
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:54,400
and we can take that to many philosophers,

421
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:59,400
saying the philosophy of human, the existential philosophy of human,

422
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:04,400
how can you prove that you are alive right now, that you are not dreaming?

423
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:15,400
So if life is not as realistic, or if life can be a dream and it's not proven,

424
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,400
then death is just as much of a dream.

425
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:26,400
So life and death are sort of on the same line. Why not?

426
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:30,400
So both can be just as beautiful and as natural.

427
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:34,400
Oh, yeah. So death is part of life.

428
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:35,400
Right.

429
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:37,400
Weird way to say, but it's true.

430
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:40,400
Okay, we went super-heaty right now.

431
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:44,400
Yes. The 50s triggers you.

432
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:46,400
It's funny.

433
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:57,400
But do you plan to record or make an official album of Antonio Soler's music in the future?

434
00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:03,400
Absolutely. I would love to do that, to be a companion to my book,

435
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:07,400
because I think it's one thing when you are talking about it,

436
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:14,400
and another thing when it's actually accompanied by the sounds of what you are talking about,

437
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,400
which is why so far I am accompanying the Bookbird concert,

438
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:23,400
but I would like to also send out my book where it's accompanied in CD.

439
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:30,400
The book is available in physical stores in Madrid, in Barcelona, but it's also available online.

440
00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:36,400
So if people go to slayersworld.com, then they have the access to your book?

441
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:41,400
Yes, if people go to www.solersworld.com,

442
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:47,400
they can be redirected to Vylo editorial's website,

443
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:52,400
or just purchase right on my website, and they can purchase it there.

444
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:57,400
But all of that information is on that solersworld.com website.

445
00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:58,400
Okay.

446
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:02,400
Before we continue, we would like to take a moment to highlight our sponsor.

447
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,400
Musicians pass to peak performance by Dr. John Skidmore.

448
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,400
Their support makes this episode possible.

449
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,400
I watched Amber, a young string player,

450
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:18,400
intercept her teacher as the teacher was going up to the front of the recital hall to start the recital.

451
00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:23,400
Amber stops her, looks at her, and just, you can feel the anxiety.

452
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:25,400
I'm nervous.

453
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:29,400
And now the teacher was nervous. She didn't know what to say.

454
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:31,400
There was this awkward silence.

455
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:35,400
The teacher finally said, Amber, you'll do fine.

456
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:39,400
And Amber did not look reassured.

457
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:43,400
I'm Dr. John Skidmore. I'm a performance psychologist.

458
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:48,400
This fall, I am launching my 30 Days to Peak Performance program.

459
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:53,400
In this program, you'll learn lots of tools and skills that will turn stage fright,

460
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:58,400
performance anxiety into excitement, and dread and doubt into confidence,

461
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:02,400
and help turn your students into peak performers.

462
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:07,400
If Amber's teacher had been a certified Skidmore trained peak performance coach,

463
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:10,400
I'm quite sure that conversation would have been very different.

464
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:13,400
Oh, Amber, you're activated.

465
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:17,400
Hey, we have been learning lots of tools and skills for moments like this.

466
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,400
Which one do you think you could try?

467
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:22,400
Oh, the breathing exercise?

468
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:25,400
Yeah, try that and add a little bit of visualization.

469
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:26,400
You can do that, can't you?

470
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:31,400
Yeah. Amber, you got this. You'll do fine.

471
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:35,400
And we'll talk about how this worked in your lesson on Thursday.

472
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:39,400
You can learn more about my courses, 30 Days to Peak Performance,

473
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:46,400
and the certified Peak Performance Coach program at my website, drjohnskidmore.com.

474
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:50,400
Risk, fail, risk again.

475
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:56,400
Now, while your work on Solaire is deeply tied to the Iberian tradition,

476
00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:07,400
I know your Armenian roots play an equally or more important role in shaping your artistic identity.

477
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:11,400
So Armenia has such a rich musical heritage,

478
00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:18,400
and you've performed works by notable Armenian composers like Atatürian and Komitas, right?

479
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:20,400
Yes, absolutely Komitas.

480
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:25,400
Okay, so could you take us to the world of Armenian music?

481
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:32,400
You mentioned about Spanish music being so distinctive.

482
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:35,400
And so what do you think about Armenian music,

483
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:39,400
and how has its style influenced your approach to performance?

484
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,400
I think Armenian music, this is...

485
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:48,400
I always feel biased talking about Armenian music,

486
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:55,400
because it's almost always talking about your own kids, like how beautiful and how smart they are.

487
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:59,400
It's like, yes, they are your kids.

488
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:07,400
And I always feel a little bit the same way, biased talking about my own heritage and my music.

489
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:17,400
And at the same time, I feel that it is part of my artistic obligation to talk and promote my own music and heritage as well.

490
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:32,400
And yes, I think it's very distinctive, distinctively different from rustic music in a way that it often feels like it's connecting the East and West.

491
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:40,400
It is very much in between, it does sound European, but it also does sound Middle Eastern.

492
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:51,400
And maybe it is, of course, connected deeply to its location, where it's geographically located, between East and West.

493
00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:57,400
And of course, all the influences from our neighbors and all the historical influences,

494
00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:07,400
the huge influence by Russia or France, all of the history is also what shapes the culture too.

495
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:12,400
And in fact, culture shapes the history too, in a way they are all interchangeable.

496
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:20,400
Komitas, the father of Armenian classical music, although of course there was classical music before that too, the 20th century.

497
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:23,400
But what Komitas did is very similar to what Bartok did.

498
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:30,400
So he also went from village to village and sort of purified from the foreign influences to music.

499
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,400
Pandemic gave me a very interesting gift.

500
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:42,400
Because of the time and being stuck in one place and not performing and not traveling,

501
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:52,400
I had the time to also dive into a little bit myself, into my interests and my own culture, my heritage.

502
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:57,400
And find competitions that I haven't played, that I would love to play.

503
00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:02,400
And again, I stumbled upon this work.

504
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:12,400
I had a book a friend of mine gave me that was published in the early 2000s of Komitas's German works.

505
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:21,400
So it includes some of his German songs that are mostly written on the words, on the poetry of Goethe, Roenke.

506
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:30,400
And others. And so I was looking through those songs, but I also found this piano works that he wrote while he was studying in Germany.

507
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:34,400
And I found this Nocturne that was incredibly beautiful.

508
00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:43,400
And then I was commissioned by the Armenian Museum of America in Boston to record this beautiful work, which I did.

509
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:48,400
And it was released in 2020, so during pandemic.

510
00:44:48,400 --> 00:45:03,400
When performing that work, it was so interesting to see how that Armenian idiom was almost not hidden, but it was or maybe not intentionally hidden.

511
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:13,400
But Komitas was showing in this work his own developing language that was so post-modernist in a way.

512
00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:22,400
It was it had that language of even sometimes I would say Wagner, you know, or some German feel.

513
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:27,400
But then at the same time, you could feel that it was an Armenian composer.

514
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:36,400
But it was in a way hidden or as French would say, voire, like it was under a voie, you know.

515
00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:46,400
And that made me think about that national, that ethnic value of music.

516
00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:51,400
How much do we really, really need that in the original music?

517
00:45:51,400 --> 00:46:04,400
Yes, we are getting fascinated by the Spanish idiom and the music of Soler and Falling in Love with It or the Armenianness of Komitas or Hacchaturian.

518
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:11,400
That's sort of how Hacchaturian made his mark in the world of music.

519
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:15,400
And he was one of the biggest composers in the world.

520
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:19,400
And the world knows that he's an Armenian composer.

521
00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:29,400
But at the same time, there is in general music in the sense of in that global sense of music because we are all people too.

522
00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:34,400
And we connect on many, many common grounds.

523
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:37,400
And we are all the same at the same time.

524
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:47,400
Yes, we like certain distinct things and we are distinct on our own.

525
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:51,400
But at the end of the day, we're all also human.

526
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:59,400
So there are those common traits that touch us, right?

527
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:06,400
Me being not Spanish, there is something in that Spanish that is not the Spanish that touches me.

528
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:18,400
That is not hidden, that voie behind that voie, but is common with me, with my Armenian soul, my Armenian part, my human part.

529
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:26,400
That Spanish somehow touches me or the French of the music touches me, the Armenian.

530
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:40,400
And I feel that as performers, we should really, I don't want to say concentrate, but we should not overlook that part.

531
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:44,400
And perhaps not super concentrate on what's different.

532
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:58,400
And think of what's us, what's me in that Spanish, what's me in that Japanese, what's me in that French, what's me in that whatever other culture you think of.

533
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:03,400
You know, what's me in you, what's me in her.

534
00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:11,400
And what is it that makes it authentic when I am playing?

535
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:18,400
So now you got me really curious about your upbringing because we are talking about Armenia.

536
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:24,400
Oh, and you have such an extensive foreign experiences.

537
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:36,400
So Armenia, although that's your native country, but it was probably a brief moment of your life that you lived there in terms of like a long span of your time, right?

538
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:40,400
Because you moved to different countries at such a young age.

539
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,400
I moved to Paris when I was 14.

540
00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:45,400
I know, I know. I saw it. So we'll talk about that.

541
00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:53,400
But as I was researching, I discovered that you were also once a violinist for 10 years.

542
00:48:53,400 --> 00:49:03,400
Wow. So what led that transition? Like how did your career violin training shape your, well, you know, what was it like to sort of drop that?

543
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:07,400
And I am after all a pianist.

544
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:11,400
Well, I was a composer always since a very, very young age.

545
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:15,400
I started composing and I was composing on the piano.

546
00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:21,400
So most of my compositions are on the piano. I am a pianist, a composer of pianists.

547
00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:24,400
Yes, I played the violin for many, many years.

548
00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:36,400
I played for over 10 years the violin and I was playing quite a serious program, you know, Lalo Symphony Espanol and you have to be concerto and Scherzo d'Alempella.

549
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:39,400
So like serious program. I knew how to play.

550
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:45,400
And as I was saying earlier on, I was at the indie orchestra of the school.

551
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:49,400
I loved the violin. I loved my teacher very, very much.

552
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:52,400
I was the director of the Czechoslovakian music school where I went to.

553
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:56,400
But again, my soul was in the piano.

554
00:49:56,400 --> 00:50:05,400
I was composing on the piano and I was playing my own compositions, which were at the time heavily influenced by Liszt and Rothbein and had a lot of

555
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:09,400
octaves and big passages and were kind of virtuosic.

556
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:21,400
And I was performing a lot. So I was one of the I know it sounds very so not modest and I'm very sorry, but I was one of the star students at school.

557
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:31,400
And I was performing a lot in those concerts and performing as a composer on the piano.

558
00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:40,400
So as the kids and the teachers knew that I was a violinist, I was still all the time performing as a pianist composer.

559
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:51,400
And in fact, when I was sent to Paris in 1993 to perform at the UNESCO Palace at one of the concerts, we had a tour.

560
00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:59,400
So I was chosen as a composer to perform in this concert in France, several cities there.

561
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:03,400
And I went to Paris and fell in love with Paris right away instantly.

562
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:06,400
And I wanted to move there to study.

563
00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:14,400
And I asked the host family if they could find out when the exams to the conservatory would be.

564
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:24,400
And they did. They invited me to stay with them again, you know, to, you know, while I was playing at the entrance, you know, exams.

565
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:27,400
And I played at the exams as a pianist.

566
00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:30,400
So I played a series program as well.

567
00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:37,400
So I played Liszt, Rachmaninoff, some concerturia, you know, whatever, you know, the program was.

568
00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:47,400
Because I was studying piano and violin at the same time, sort of not the same way as the violinists were studying, you know, just piano at the site.

569
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:54,400
But because I was playing my own compositions, my teacher, and she was the director, so she had that power.

570
00:51:54,400 --> 00:52:03,400
She said, OK, well, your piano teacher is going to give you it's almost like having double major, which is not really the case.

571
00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:10,400
And I had a triple major at piano composition and violin as majors at school.

572
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:18,400
So I went to take the exam as a pianist and I got in and I went back to Armenia and told my teacher.

573
00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:24,400
I'm so very sorry, but I'm moving to Paris now as a pianist.

574
00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:26,400
She was not happy with that.

575
00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:34,400
Well, that's an incredible story because you already had this, I don't know, performance opportunities, but also will to be.

576
00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:36,400
You are born to be a musician, I guess.

577
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:38,400
You know, there was no doubt about it.

578
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:41,400
But did that come from maybe your background?

579
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:44,400
Like it was there. Are you coming from a musical family?

580
00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:45,400
Not at all.

581
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:59,400
I there is not not a musician in my family, but every single person in my family on both sides were huge supportive supporter of music and me.

582
00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:07,400
So I am incredibly grateful to my family and their support, especially my mom.

583
00:53:07,400 --> 00:53:15,400
No, because she was young, very, very young, our age difference is almost 20 years old.

584
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:16,400
She turned 21.

585
00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:18,400
She had me like the next day.

586
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:19,400
She turned 20.

587
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:36,400
So as a young, young lady, feeling what your child's heart is in so rightfully, you know, and not being musician and starting, you know, like taking me to the lessons and basically starting in parallel with me.

588
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:39,400
You know, whatever I was taught, she was taught.

589
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:41,400
She was writing down, she was doing everything.

590
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:42,400
She was learning the notes.

591
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:48,400
She was sitting with me hours to practice the violin and then the piano.

592
00:53:48,400 --> 00:54:00,400
And it was just as hard work, if not harder work on her side that I'm so grateful for that I actually became a pianist or I became a musician.

593
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:08,400
It sounds like there was like a sort of not only parental support, but there was a support system.

594
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:10,400
Armenia as a country.

595
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:12,400
It's a little different from the United States.

596
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:13,400
Absolutely.

597
00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:14,400
Yes.

598
00:54:14,400 --> 00:54:24,400
That continues to be for Soviet Union to early childhood training, musical training, free governmental all over the country.

599
00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:43,400
We have, you know, music schools that are seven to 11 years and studies and are free and they provide you with, you know, complete musical education, complete with, you know, all the disciplines and all the objects there are in music.

600
00:54:43,400 --> 00:54:49,400
So everybody can be can register and get that free education.

601
00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:54,400
Then there are also specialized music schools that are gifted and talented.

602
00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:58,400
So for those kids, those are very competitive to get in again for free.

603
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:01,400
But those are affiliated to the conservatory.

604
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:08,400
So like when you graduate from that school, it's clear that you are going to be a musician.

605
00:55:08,400 --> 00:55:12,400
I moved to Paris earlier, so I didn't study at the Yerevan Conservatory.

606
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:14,400
I studied in Paris.

607
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:16,400
I moved there when I was 14.

608
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:19,400
I finished the school there, studied in conservatory.

609
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:23,400
I did my master's in Moscow, then doctorate at the University of Iowa.

610
00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:28,400
That was a little bit of a detour from the big cities, but I had a wonderful time.

611
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:37,400
I think it's a great university and a great location to do doctoral studies because you don't have the destruction of the big city.

612
00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:46,400
Then I was fortunate to have met now a good friend of mine, Inessa Sienkiewicz, who happened to be in Iowa at the time.

613
00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:58,400
And I gave her my CD of just various, you know, music that included also some pieces by Soler to take to Solomon Mikovsky to New York to show.

614
00:55:58,400 --> 00:56:01,400
I needed an opinion, another ear.

615
00:56:01,400 --> 00:56:03,400
I needed to get out of Iowa.

616
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:07,400
I was almost done with my doctorate and I was looking for the next steps.

617
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:10,400
And she was kind.

618
00:56:10,400 --> 00:56:13,400
She took it to Mikovsky.

619
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:28,400
A couple of months later, when I already forgot about everything and about the CD, I was at school practicing that out of the school quite late at night, turned on my phone, turned on my car, riding home.

620
00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:38,400
And I'm listening to a voicemail and there goes a voicemail from Dr. Mikovsky saying, Hi, this is Dr. Mikovsky and Inessa gave me your CD.

621
00:56:38,400 --> 00:56:47,400
And I wanted to tell you that this is one of the most beautiful performances of Antonio Soler's music that I've ever heard.

622
00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:49,400
And I would love to talk to you.

623
00:56:49,400 --> 00:56:56,400
I'm not sure why you why exactly you gave your CD to me, but I would like to discuss with you.

624
00:56:56,400 --> 00:56:59,400
So give me a call back when you get a chance.

625
00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:02,400
I almost got in a car accident.

626
00:57:02,400 --> 00:57:04,400
I was like, Oh my God.

627
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:09,400
So I did a U-turn back to the school and continued practicing.

628
00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:13,400
And in the morning I called Mikovsky and I was like, So why did you call me?

629
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:15,400
What do you want to do?

630
00:57:15,400 --> 00:57:20,400
I said, Well, I'm almost done with my studies and I'm looking for opportunities.

631
00:57:20,400 --> 00:57:24,400
And I know that you have festivals and various concerts and series.

632
00:57:24,400 --> 00:57:28,400
I would love to work with you, perform at your festivals.

633
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:32,400
And it's like, well, you know, most of the festivals are open to my students.

634
00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:34,400
Would you like to study with me?

635
00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:36,400
Absolutely. What program?

636
00:57:36,400 --> 00:57:38,400
I'm almost done.

637
00:57:38,400 --> 00:57:45,400
And he said that, you know, there is performance studies and artist diploma programs in Chicago and in New York.

638
00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:47,400
And I should audition?

639
00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:55,400
So I auditioned and I got full tuition scholarships in both of the institutions at Chicago.

640
00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:57,400
Actually, I got a bigger award too.

641
00:57:57,400 --> 00:58:00,400
It also included the room and board.

642
00:58:00,400 --> 00:58:10,400
But at Manhattan School of Music, I got an award from Evgeny Kitsin, a full tuition scholarship and a stipend.

643
00:58:10,400 --> 00:58:11,400
Wow.

644
00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:20,400
So again, a symbolic award to me because I loved Evgeny Kitsin's performance since I was a kid.

645
00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:28,400
And my very, very first love, you know, at the age of five, you know, she gave me the LP of Kitsin.

646
00:58:28,400 --> 00:58:32,400
So it was symbolic for me to receive that.

647
00:58:32,400 --> 00:58:34,400
That's a huge deal.

648
00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:35,400
I know.

649
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:42,400
And you don't. Well, it's not like you can talk about it like every time you see or meet people, hey, I'm the recipient of Kitsin Award.

650
00:58:42,400 --> 00:58:44,400
But you've mentioned that once.

651
00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:48,400
Remember a couple of years ago, we were at Carnegie Hall.

652
00:58:48,400 --> 00:58:52,400
I guess it was a student's performance and we were walking.

653
00:58:52,400 --> 00:58:54,400
I can talk about it all the time.

654
00:58:54,400 --> 00:58:55,400
Oh, yeah.

655
00:58:55,400 --> 00:59:02,400
Because I'm kidding. Not all the time, but I do mention it because it's a full first of all, it's a, as I said, it's a symbolic thing for me.

656
00:59:02,400 --> 00:59:11,400
But it's also a big deal in a way that, well, it's rarely, you know, given a full tuition scholarship, NSI and Edmonton School of Music.

657
00:59:11,400 --> 00:59:19,400
And also it's important for me because that's what brought me to New York, along with the position at NYU.

658
00:59:19,400 --> 00:59:24,400
You know, so but it's also New York and it's also not easy to be in New York.

659
00:59:24,400 --> 00:59:29,400
And this is a golden invitation to New York.

660
00:59:29,400 --> 00:59:43,400
So when I mentioned that I received a bigger scholarship in Chicago, it's why because when Laka Mikosky asked me, so which one are you taking in Chicago or New York?

661
00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:45,400
I said, New York, of course.

662
00:59:45,400 --> 00:59:47,400
But he said, but you got more money in Chicago.

663
00:59:47,400 --> 00:59:51,400
And plus, you don't need to spend any money on room and board.

664
00:59:51,400 --> 00:59:56,400
You live for free and you receive money and you get your education.

665
00:59:56,400 --> 01:00:00,400
I said, yes, but I don't get New York.

666
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:03,400
You know, that's why I said, yes, I do talk about it.

667
01:00:03,400 --> 01:00:07,400
So what did we talk about several years ago at Carnegie Hall?

668
01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:14,400
Remember, so that our students concert was at Weill Hall, which is like smaller, but beautiful, recital hall.

669
01:00:14,400 --> 01:00:19,400
And then right next to it is the huge Isaac Stern Hall.

670
01:00:19,400 --> 01:00:30,400
And that's like toward the end of the year, it was like one of those pandemic year and then finally in person live concert started and then Kissing was performing that night.

671
01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:31,400
Oh, yes.

672
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:36,400
And then you said, oh, by the way, I received the Kissing Award.

673
01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:37,400
Huh?

674
01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:40,400
I was like, I never knew.

675
01:00:40,400 --> 01:00:51,400
So since then, that really got into my mind. And also, I think that's the year you just or you are about to publish the book.

676
01:00:51,400 --> 01:00:57,400
You mentioned that. So finally, the day has arrived and I'm interviewing you.

677
01:00:57,400 --> 01:01:04,400
So, you know, I am grateful to you. Thank you very much again for your invitation for remembering such things as well.

678
01:01:04,400 --> 01:01:14,400
You know, another thing why I think Kissing Award is such a big deal for me is also how much I respect him also as an Armenian myself.

679
01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:21,400
Why? Because he has been super supportive of Armenian and Armenian culture and Armenian history.

680
01:01:21,400 --> 01:01:24,400
And he performed in 2015.

681
01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:31,400
He performed at Carnegie Hall at a concert that was dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial.

682
01:01:31,400 --> 01:01:35,400
Not to mention that recently he also married an Armenian woman.

683
01:01:35,400 --> 01:01:43,400
And that concert was also co-sponsored by the organization that I am the director of the Arts Department of.

684
01:01:43,400 --> 01:01:48,400
So we talked a little bit about Armenia and Armenians and Armenian culture.

685
01:01:48,400 --> 01:01:57,400
And yes, I left Armenia at a very young age, but at the same time, I have always been deeply connected to my culture and to my country.

686
01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:09,400
And back in 2012, when I was invited by the Armenian General Benevolent Union to create, to start up a performing arts department at the organization,

687
01:02:09,400 --> 01:02:13,400
which is the oldest Armenian NGO in the world and the biggest.

688
01:02:13,400 --> 01:02:24,400
It's been headquartered in New York City since 1906 and has had performing arts scholarships for over 96 years at this point.

689
01:02:24,400 --> 01:02:31,400
And I am a scholarship recipient from HUB and has had many performing arts initiatives.

690
01:02:31,400 --> 01:02:41,400
I was invited to start up the department to centralize those initiatives and create more programs to promote Armenian arts and culture and artists.

691
01:02:41,400 --> 01:02:48,400
And in general, global artists to perform and are involved in the Armenian arts and culture.

692
01:02:48,400 --> 01:02:50,400
That was an honor for me.

693
01:02:50,400 --> 01:02:55,400
So that job, that position is more than a job for me.

694
01:02:55,400 --> 01:03:05,400
It's a mission that goes along with me being an Armenian, being an Armenian who has lived most of his life outside of Armenia.

695
01:03:05,400 --> 01:03:08,400
You know, it's important for me.

696
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:20,400
So, Evgeny Kisyn, you know, supporting that and with his performance, you know, at a concert that commemorates, you know, the centennial of Armenian genocide.

697
01:03:20,400 --> 01:03:23,400
Of course, when I would see you, I would tell you that.

698
01:03:23,400 --> 01:03:30,400
And yes, I do brag my connection to him on also that level.

699
01:03:30,400 --> 01:03:32,400
And you know, Manhattan School of Music is super expensive.

700
01:03:32,400 --> 01:03:41,400
It's an incredible institution and I had an incredible time, a wonderful time, but I would not be able to afford studying there.

701
01:03:41,400 --> 01:03:48,400
And I would not be able to afford moving to New York City and living there if I did not have Kisyn who paid it fully.

702
01:03:48,400 --> 01:03:51,400
So Kisyn and of course, Manhattan School of Music.

703
01:03:51,400 --> 01:04:07,400
And of course, Dr. Solomon Mikovsky, since that very sad day just recently when we lost Dr. Mikovsky just a week ago or so, there was a memorial concert in his memory at MSM.

704
01:04:07,400 --> 01:04:26,400
And so the current head of the piano department, Inessa that I just mentioned and Alexander Mutuskin, they have organized this festival of several concerts that are going to celebrate and commemorate Mikovsky's memory.

705
01:04:26,400 --> 01:04:34,400
And I will be performing at the inaugural concert of the festival that is celebrated to Mikovsky on October 8.

706
01:04:34,400 --> 01:04:40,400
So it's sort of a brag, a shameless plug and a little announcement.

707
01:04:40,400 --> 01:04:56,400
But as we are talking about Mikovsky and Manhattan School of Music and Kisyn, I'm really looking forward to that performance and eternally grateful to Mikovsky who invited me, who Kisyn and Manhattan School of Music to invite you.

708
01:04:56,400 --> 01:05:01,400
And in fact, grateful to New York every single day to be my best friend.

709
01:05:01,400 --> 01:05:02,400
What a journey.

710
01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:03,400
Incredible.

711
01:05:03,400 --> 01:05:10,400
So tell me about any memorable concerts like you've performed pretty much everywhere.

712
01:05:10,400 --> 01:05:21,400
Not just in the United States, but Latin America, Asia, Australia, Europe, of course, and Moscow as well.

713
01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:26,400
So any memorable concerts that stands out?

714
01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:28,400
I know that's a big question to ask.

715
01:05:28,400 --> 01:05:29,400
It is a big question, to be honest.

716
01:05:29,400 --> 01:05:31,400
I did not think about that one.

717
01:05:31,400 --> 01:05:43,400
There are so many memorable concerts for different reasons, including not so successful memories, right?

718
01:05:43,400 --> 01:05:45,400
Including traumatic memories.

719
01:05:45,400 --> 01:05:54,400
But I think in general, concert as an experience, I think is a very interesting experience.

720
01:05:54,400 --> 01:05:57,400
That is a communication.

721
01:05:57,400 --> 01:06:01,400
A communication that is sometimes forced communication.

722
01:06:01,400 --> 01:06:09,400
And you end up having, you know, when you are not comfortable with the moment, with the audience, with yourself,

723
01:06:09,400 --> 01:06:19,400
and you're having this forced communication with yourself, and the audience can feel like also being forced.

724
01:06:19,400 --> 01:06:25,400
Like, why am I witnessing a communication that is, you know, a conflict?

725
01:06:25,400 --> 01:06:32,400
That can happen, and I know 100% that it has happened to everyone, every single performer.

726
01:06:32,400 --> 01:06:41,400
One, that communication is a broken conflict, and you're just thinking, OK, when is that second one I'm done?

727
01:06:41,400 --> 01:06:43,400
By 92, go.

728
01:06:43,400 --> 01:06:49,400
And I think it's such a useful moment to have that broken communication with yourself.

729
01:06:49,400 --> 01:06:57,400
Because any kind of broken communication is also a seed to plant for a better communication.

730
01:06:57,400 --> 01:07:03,400
A learning seed to plant better communication.

731
01:07:03,400 --> 01:07:13,400
A communication which is that beautiful communication that happens, luckily more often than that broken communication.

732
01:07:13,400 --> 01:07:21,400
When you are stepping into this beautiful dialogue or a group communication between that audience,

733
01:07:21,400 --> 01:07:28,400
the co-creation part of, like, you performer and the composition itself,

734
01:07:28,400 --> 01:07:39,400
and it's a moment of epharia, of a nirvana, of that moment when perhaps you don't remember afterwards.

735
01:07:39,400 --> 01:07:47,400
It's like a little coma in a good sense when you are maybe in this huts walking with whatever, you know what I mean?

736
01:07:47,400 --> 01:07:51,400
And then when you are back to life, you don't remember what exactly happened.

737
01:07:51,400 --> 01:07:59,400
But what you remember is remember that satisfaction of that communication, of that beautiful conversation,

738
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:09,400
that nonverbal communication, that energy, circulation of energy between you, the audience, the work,

739
01:08:09,400 --> 01:08:14,400
the partner that you are communicating with, if it is chamber music or an orchestra.

740
01:08:14,400 --> 01:08:22,400
And perhaps that's why maybe the concert itself may not be memorable in a way.

741
01:08:22,400 --> 01:08:29,400
Although I do have concerts that I remember, one of them, for example, in Bulgaria, in Sofia, probably.

742
01:08:29,400 --> 01:08:39,400
It's memorable because I really, really got so deep into that feeling of the work that I got emotional, actually.

743
01:08:39,400 --> 01:08:44,400
And I was performing Mozart concerto in A major in 488.

744
01:08:44,400 --> 01:08:51,400
And that second movement, I got super emotional and I almost cried while performing.

745
01:08:51,400 --> 01:08:55,400
That doesn't happen often. I know that the audience loved it, too.

746
01:08:55,400 --> 01:08:59,400
I had a lot of beautiful comments afterwards, too.

747
01:08:59,400 --> 01:09:04,400
But I can remember the communication somehow. I remember that air.

748
01:09:04,400 --> 01:09:09,400
And I think that's the magic of music. I feel like that's probably the purpose of music.

749
01:09:09,400 --> 01:09:16,400
It's like a drug. It's almost like that. Yeah, not that I do.

750
01:09:16,400 --> 01:09:28,400
But it's the moment of the surreal, the moment of being present into something completely else that is also so rooted in the reality.

751
01:09:28,400 --> 01:09:31,400
It's that bridge between reality and surreal.

752
01:09:31,400 --> 01:09:47,400
It's an out-of-body experience, but at the same time, it's happening within you, too.

753
01:10:01,400 --> 01:10:24,400
You do a lot of fun.

754
01:10:24,400 --> 01:10:32,400
Just like we talked about, you performed at the St. John's in West Village. That concert was beautiful.

755
01:10:32,400 --> 01:10:38,400
But also you did some fun stuff like a tango. There was a dancer and then there's a group of musicians.

756
01:10:38,400 --> 01:10:41,400
And you were part of it, of course, as a pianist.

757
01:10:41,400 --> 01:10:44,400
Do you like playing with a group of people? Chamber?

758
01:10:44,400 --> 01:10:52,400
I love playing chamber music. I love playing all different kinds of projects, all different genres.

759
01:10:52,400 --> 01:11:04,400
Years ago, with my very, very good friend and my roommate at the time, Andrew Hovstrandway, and another good friend, Charles Clemens, a great bass player.

760
01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:13,400
We recorded Andrew's songs. Andrew is a singer-songwriter, pianist also, a singer-songwriter. We both loved Radiohead.

761
01:11:13,400 --> 01:11:18,400
So we also did some covers of Radiohead. I love Radiohead.

762
01:11:18,400 --> 01:11:26,400
Which Radiohead song do you like? Oh my God, so many of them. So, so many of them. I love the Taurus. I love Street Period.

763
01:11:26,400 --> 01:11:36,400
I love the latest stuff even more because it goes so electro. I love the daydreaming and everything in it.

764
01:11:36,400 --> 01:11:43,400
That's classic. That's classic. I love also remixes of Radiohead.

765
01:11:43,400 --> 01:11:52,400
You know, Tom Yurts also does his own remixes too and DJs and like dive bars in LA or something like that.

766
01:11:52,400 --> 01:12:04,400
So it's not me talking to the she-she situation. No. And so all of those diverse genres, I love. Of course, I love chamber music.

767
01:12:04,400 --> 01:12:14,400
I did the concert that you came to with Philippe Ogadi. We did a beautiful program of Brahms, Clara, and Robert Schumann.

768
01:12:14,400 --> 01:12:25,400
I love German music. I love the German Lieder, Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Brahms songs. I love French music, of course.

769
01:12:25,400 --> 01:12:34,400
And I did a beautiful program of French Nocturnes. In fact, that was the first concert coming out of pandemic.

770
01:12:34,400 --> 01:12:43,400
I did a concert, a solo recital called Nocturne of France at a Spiky. Very, very cool. A true Spiky.

771
01:12:43,400 --> 01:12:53,400
It's a beautiful restaurant with a great concert grand in the middle of the restaurant and the restaurant is sort of like in a round shape.

772
01:12:53,400 --> 01:13:01,400
So everybody's like you're surrounded by the people. And it's a true Spiky because from the street side, there is no sign.

773
01:13:01,400 --> 01:13:09,400
There is it's like dark metal door. You don't know. You don't know. You know, but it's a great place over 100 people, you know, audience.

774
01:13:09,400 --> 01:13:21,400
It was sold out. What I did was cocktails and Nocturnes. So it was the first time I was seeing people, you know, an audience after two years of not seeing much.

775
01:13:21,400 --> 01:13:27,400
And it was awfully emotional. Two years, you know, going through a lot of changes.

776
01:13:27,400 --> 01:13:43,400
And I couldn't bear the idea of having a totally sober audience there. So it had to be in a bar. So I made them, you know, I gave them all the cocktails that were deliciously served.

777
01:13:43,400 --> 01:14:01,400
I had a couple of glasses of wine myself and we indulged into the beautiful world of French Nocturnal music, you know, with complete sets of Nocturnes by Poulenc, Faure, Chopin, and including Komitansis.

778
01:14:01,400 --> 01:14:13,400
Nocturne because yes, he's an Armenian composer, but his last 20 years of life were spent in France and he was also buried in France in Pierre Lachaise.

779
01:14:13,400 --> 01:14:27,400
So I included his Nocturne in that program too. And I also included one of my own compositions in that program because I became a member of the French Society of Composers in 1993.

780
01:14:27,400 --> 01:14:45,400
So I am an Armenian composer, but I'm anyway a French composer too. And having spent formative lives growing up in France that affected strongly in my compositions, my creativity, I felt like I had the right to be included in that concert of the French.

781
01:14:45,400 --> 01:15:01,400
And so, you know, these different styles of music, genres of music and identities and ethnicities of music and of course Spain. I mean, not only Soler, but yes, very, very good friend of mine, Niko Andreas.

782
01:15:01,400 --> 01:15:19,400
We met up at a place and we're, hey, let's collaborate again together in a bunch of MSM many years ago. As I was starting concert series at that Speakeasy, I invited him to hire you know, Vistlian to perform.

783
01:15:19,400 --> 01:15:35,400
And he's like, dude, I want to perform with you. How about we talk about a program. Here's this beautiful idea that is based on Federico Garcia Lorca and all of these incredible composers and artists that were surrounded by him.

784
01:15:35,400 --> 01:15:52,400
And so he created this beautiful project of Lorca's songs. You know, Lorca not only was a poet, but he was also an artist. And he did a little bit of what Comitas did. He also went by Willicbi Village and he registered, you know, rubbed down some of those folk melodies.

785
01:15:52,400 --> 01:16:07,400
And so basically he made transcriptions, piano transcriptions and with voice, you know, with the lyrics. And so we included 13 of his songs and then also music by Soler too. He was not really surrounded by Lorca.

786
01:16:07,400 --> 01:16:29,400
He was way earlier, but he created that atmosphere of Spain. But also we had Debussy and Albeniz and Defaya and Leonard Cohen who had a song that was based on Lorca's form.

787
01:16:29,400 --> 01:16:43,400
So we did this beautiful project with Nilko and other friends who were flamenco singer, singer songwriter, flamenco and classical dancer Panoma de Vega.

788
01:16:43,400 --> 01:17:00,400
And so Alfonso Cid was the singer and the flamenco singer and Liz Chattler was the singer songwriter. So beautiful program that we did several performances like five, six sold out performances.

789
01:17:00,400 --> 01:17:18,400
Wow. Isn't our guest so inspiring? I'm sure you're enjoying and learning from every bit of this episode. So I need to ask you two things. First, hit that like button on YouTube or subscribe if you're listening on your go to podcast platform.

790
01:17:18,400 --> 01:17:38,400
And follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok at The Piano Pod for behind the scenes content, episode updates and more. Stay connected and inspired to celebrate the past, present and future of classical music.

791
01:17:38,400 --> 01:17:55,400
I would like to know you as an educator. I did not know that you were teaching at NYU Tisch School. I thought I went to NYU but it was Steinhardt. I thought Steinhardt is the only school that offers music but Tisch was I thought it was more like acting and things.

792
01:17:55,400 --> 01:18:09,400
But yeah, what are you teaching there? So not anymore. I started teaching there after I moved to New York. Well, I moved, as I said, you know, with the scholarship to MSM but also I got a job right away.

793
01:18:09,400 --> 01:18:28,400
Even right before moving. I got a job as an accompanist, dance accompanist at NYU Tisch. And this is something I had done for many, many years. I worked at Bursch Ballet, Bursch Theater when I was studying there in Moscow. So I was accompanying dance classes at Bursch Ballet.

794
01:18:28,400 --> 01:18:43,400
And I've worked with many renowned American and European dance companies and put in Mark Morris and Juliard and still American Ballet and Joffrey Ballet, University of Iowa Ballet, NYU, Juliard.

795
01:18:43,400 --> 01:19:00,400
So played all around, you know, in the dance field. And when I graduated from MSM and it was time for me to move on from student visa to a more stable visa. So that would be either teaching visa or an artist visa.

796
01:19:00,400 --> 01:19:14,400
I told NYU, I said, okay, well, I'm done. I'm looking for a job. And they said, we would like you to teach here. So they commissioned me a course called musical collaboration working with dancers.

797
01:19:14,400 --> 01:19:26,400
So they said, I would, we would like you to teach us how to work with people like you. So I created a course that taught the dancers how to work with musicians.

798
01:19:26,400 --> 01:19:37,400
A few things, dancers are musicians. If my instrument is the piano, their instrument is their body. It's chamber music on its own way as well.

799
01:19:37,400 --> 01:19:47,400
However, our vocabularies and the way that we express sometimes can differ so much that we can be scared of each other. We don't know how to talk to each other.

800
01:19:47,400 --> 01:19:59,400
And again, talking that communication and when the communication is broken, you have a bad moment and you need to go. And unfortunately, with way too many breakups are happening in that world.

801
01:19:59,400 --> 01:20:17,400
So I was commissioned to create that bridge to have such an incessant communication that we will understand each other within seconds because unfortunately that is the task. We need to understand each other within seconds.

802
01:20:17,400 --> 01:20:32,400
If you think the pianist or the drummer, whoever, you know, the musician is in the corner in the dance classroom is given, I don't know, within about 10 to 15 seconds of explanation, which is not even geared to him.

803
01:20:32,400 --> 01:20:50,400
It's geared to the students. The dance teacher is saying the combination about 15 seconds, sometimes way less than that. And the pianist or the musician needs to create a piece of music that is over five to sometimes five minutes or over.

804
01:20:50,400 --> 01:21:02,400
Sometimes 15 minutes if they are doing, you know, their jumps from one corner to the other last 15 minutes nonstop. How do you create material based on several seconds of information?

805
01:21:02,400 --> 01:21:17,400
If that information is not clear, you create that piece of music in such a way that it needs to inspire and not to anger, inspire their musicality, inspire their creativity.

806
01:21:17,400 --> 01:21:37,400
So I would teach that communication. So the dancer, then dance teacher and the accompanist, the communication also between the choreographer and the composer and communication between the choreographer and the performer of pre-written music.

807
01:21:37,400 --> 01:21:48,400
So after teaching that several years and then I started also teaching the reverse class, teaching the musicians how to work with the dancers.

808
01:21:48,400 --> 01:21:57,400
So the first half of the semester, I mean of the year, so first semester, it would be the theory and a little bit of a practice.

809
01:21:57,400 --> 01:22:10,400
And then the second half of the year, it was deep practice. So we were teaching them how to work with each other at a program, an outreach program that I also co-founded at NYU together with my colleagues.

810
01:22:10,400 --> 01:22:19,400
An outreach program with vulnerable schools of New York City where the students were given the opportunity to take free classes, free dance classes at NYU.

811
01:22:19,400 --> 01:22:34,400
And those classes were taught by my students. So my students would have a half a year of real world experience before they would go out into the real world and have a real teaching job or a company job.

812
01:22:34,400 --> 01:22:36,400
So that was super fun.

813
01:22:36,400 --> 01:22:42,400
That's amazing. That's another part of you that I did not know that you were. Yeah.

814
01:22:42,400 --> 01:22:46,400
Well, you should brag a little bit more.

815
01:22:46,400 --> 01:22:52,400
Anyway, but you know, because I only knew you at the beginning was your local piano teacher.

816
01:22:52,400 --> 01:23:02,400
Oh, obviously you're more, I recognize that you're more than a local piano teacher, but you have a thriving piano studio in Midtown Manhattan.

817
01:23:02,400 --> 01:23:13,400
And so that's a contrast to NYU Tegishore, all the accolades you collected in the past. It's different, right?

818
01:23:13,400 --> 01:23:21,400
It's a really humbling grassroots effort in reaching out to the community.

819
01:23:21,400 --> 01:23:34,400
So what's the most challenging part of it to have tried to reach out, try to really be the promoter of classical music?

820
01:23:34,400 --> 01:23:41,400
This is what we're getting back to, to the diversity that is provided by New York City and being in New York City.

821
01:23:41,400 --> 01:23:51,400
I think that we, on one hand, are forced to do so many things to be able to have a decent and enjoyable living in New York City.

822
01:23:51,400 --> 01:23:58,400
On another hand, that is, it's like when parents, you know, force you to do something while you're growing up.

823
01:23:58,400 --> 01:24:02,400
And then you're like, oh, thank you so much for doing this, you know?

824
01:24:02,400 --> 01:24:14,400
And I feel like this is what New York does to you, because it also shapes you into an artist that is multifaceted and does many different things.

825
01:24:14,400 --> 01:24:22,400
And this way, he is also promoting what he does, promoting, like in my case, classical music, right?

826
01:24:22,400 --> 01:24:29,400
I am performing, I am teaching, I am writing, I am publishing articles, I'm collaborating.

827
01:24:29,400 --> 01:24:34,400
All of this is in a way promoting classical music, right?

828
01:24:34,400 --> 01:24:39,400
I mean, the educational part is huge.

829
01:24:39,400 --> 01:24:43,400
Like I'm writing and publishing educational articles.

830
01:24:43,400 --> 01:24:52,400
I am part of, as you are, Piano Features Congress of New York, and I'm very, very thankful to be part of this incredible organization.

831
01:24:52,400 --> 01:25:03,400
And in there, we are sharing all of those educational aspects and thoughts and experiences that you go back home and you teach to your students.

832
01:25:03,400 --> 01:25:09,400
You teach your, like in my case, my daughters, myself, right?

833
01:25:09,400 --> 01:25:15,400
We are constantly learning. And my audiences in a way.

834
01:25:15,400 --> 01:25:28,400
But again, like maybe I can change that word from teaching to sharing, because I think for me, I probably don't like the word teaching much.

835
01:25:28,400 --> 01:25:31,400
I like more the word sharing.

836
01:25:31,400 --> 01:25:37,400
And that's going back all the way back at the very, very beginning when you say, should I address you in all right?

837
01:25:37,400 --> 01:25:47,400
No, even my little students, yesterday, a very new student, like two or three times I've taught her.

838
01:25:47,400 --> 01:25:51,400
She's the sweetest little Chinese kid. I love her.

839
01:25:51,400 --> 01:25:55,400
And I already love her, although I've seen her like four, maybe four times now.

840
01:25:55,400 --> 01:25:58,400
And I know that she's getting really, really nice.

841
01:25:58,400 --> 01:26:03,400
I think she's going to go far. She has incredible good hands and she's going far.

842
01:26:03,400 --> 01:26:10,400
And she's now getting really used to me. She's like, you know, she was super shy at first.

843
01:26:10,400 --> 01:26:12,400
I'm like, would you like to sing? You know, those as I am.

844
01:26:12,400 --> 01:26:16,400
She's like, no, I'm not going to sing. I'm too shy. Right away.

845
01:26:16,400 --> 01:26:24,400
She's like, yesterday, my word, I may soon think I'm kind of starting to get used to.

846
01:26:24,400 --> 01:26:29,400
And then whenever I may not do it right away, I may not do it in front of you.

847
01:26:29,400 --> 01:26:36,400
But I might have my mom record me and send it to you. But let me get there.

848
01:26:36,400 --> 01:26:45,400
And then at the end, when I was going or the living, the place and she said, Hey, do you think I can call you Hikie?

849
01:26:45,400 --> 01:26:47,400
Hikie.

850
01:26:47,400 --> 01:26:54,400
She's getting comfortable. Yes, not Dr. Hikie. I mean, not Hikie.

851
01:26:54,400 --> 01:26:59,400
But I was like, you know, I think Hikie is fine.

852
01:26:59,400 --> 01:27:09,400
You know, why? Because I think if you put yourself, doctor or professor or whatever, then you're going back to that teaching and teaching.

853
01:27:09,400 --> 01:27:13,400
Yes, my experience may be more and is more than yours.

854
01:27:13,400 --> 01:27:15,400
And this is why you're paying me the big bucks.

855
01:27:15,400 --> 01:27:20,400
But but also you're paying me to share my experience and my knowledge.

856
01:27:20,400 --> 01:27:30,400
Right. Not to establish this inferiority, superiority dynamics, but say what I have is yours.

857
01:27:30,400 --> 01:27:33,400
I'm I'm teaching you. That's not all I have.

858
01:27:33,400 --> 01:27:40,400
This is yours. And I think that's that's the sharing that we also give to our audiences.

859
01:27:40,400 --> 01:27:44,400
That's the sharing that I also give from my articles and my books.

860
01:27:44,400 --> 01:27:59,400
That's the sharing that I give from my job at AGBU, you know, to to my artists and to the audience that that that our artists are, you know, presenting.

861
01:27:59,400 --> 01:28:05,400
That's the job that we're giving to the world presenting sharing Armenian culture.

862
01:28:05,400 --> 01:28:10,400
That's the job as a performer of Spanish music or any other kind of music.

863
01:28:10,400 --> 01:28:21,400
And we are sharing in chamber music with each other, whether that chamber music is with musician or with a dancer or with a visual artist.

864
01:28:21,400 --> 01:28:27,400
It's the world that we are sharing together and enjoy together that together.

865
01:28:27,400 --> 01:28:35,400
That's what we are doing. I mean, we can go on like this forever, but time has come and then we are toward the end of the conversation.

866
01:28:35,400 --> 01:28:46,400
So upcoming projects. So one of them is the publication of articles which will be featured in the fall issue of Piano Journal in London.

867
01:28:46,400 --> 01:28:50,400
Right. Yes. So the articles about Solaire again.

868
01:28:50,400 --> 01:29:01,400
Yeah. Well, yes. Yes. Piano Journal is a wonderful actually a magazine that is affiliated to the piano teachers.

869
01:29:01,400 --> 01:29:06,400
I know what is it called? European Piano Teachers Association.

870
01:29:06,400 --> 01:29:13,400
I have to that is, I guess, headquartered in London, but has chapters all over the world.

871
01:29:13,400 --> 01:29:18,400
And I have been publishing for their articles a while already.

872
01:29:18,400 --> 01:29:28,400
I mean, their journal a while I've given two articles or the one was Padre Antonio Solaire and performance of his keyboard sonatas on the modern piano.

873
01:29:28,400 --> 01:29:35,400
The other one was Padre Antonio Solaire and Don Gabriel de Bourbon composers and their royal patrons.

874
01:29:35,400 --> 01:29:40,400
So sort of those articles are always like on the example of Solaire, but also on those topics.

875
01:29:40,400 --> 01:29:45,400
So my two upcoming articles at Piano Journal are the dancing sonata.

876
01:29:45,400 --> 01:29:50,400
So the use of Spanish idioms in pre-classical sonata.

877
01:29:50,400 --> 01:29:59,400
And that will be in the fall issue and in the spring issue of the of the Piano Journal will be the Spanish sonata.

878
01:29:59,400 --> 01:30:03,400
Solaire's use of the folklore and oh, sorry, sorry, sorry.

879
01:30:03,400 --> 01:30:11,400
The dancing sonata was the use of dance forms in the sonata in pre-classical sonata.

880
01:30:11,400 --> 01:30:22,400
So many, many dances were used, you know, like Bolero and many dances are used in in the pre-classical sonata, like in partitas, right.

881
01:30:22,400 --> 01:30:26,400
But in a different form, obviously. So that's one article.

882
01:30:26,400 --> 01:30:34,400
The other article is the Spanish sonata. So here goes folklore, Spanish folklore and the Spanish idiom.

883
01:30:34,400 --> 01:30:44,400
So those are the two articles that are coming up. And then as far as the most upcoming concerts are in October, I think.

884
01:30:44,400 --> 01:30:54,400
I think this program is actually going to be released the day that I will be performing at Manhattan School of Music at the Solomon Mikovsky Festival,

885
01:30:54,400 --> 01:30:58,400
the inaugural release of the festival on October 8th.

886
01:30:58,400 --> 01:31:07,400
Two days before that, I will be performing at the Lychitinsky Association's fundraiser at Tenry Institute.

887
01:31:07,400 --> 01:31:17,400
I will be also presenting guest lectures at Manhattan School of Music Piano Literature class on October 10th and 11th.

888
01:31:17,400 --> 01:31:27,400
So that October week is going to be intense. October 4th, I'm also presenting Armenian filmmakers in Fresno in California.

889
01:31:27,400 --> 01:31:29,400
Wow. Lots of opportunities.

890
01:31:29,400 --> 01:31:45,400
On October 11th, I'm presenting Armenian artists at a beautiful gala in New York City at Pratt House through my job at GBU at their 93rd annual gala.

891
01:31:45,400 --> 01:31:48,400
So, yeah, you have a lot of events coming up.

892
01:31:48,400 --> 01:32:01,400
So for our listeners, please go to solosworld.com to learn more about Hike's scholarly work and then HikeArsinian.com to learn about his solo chamber concerts, updates, and his teaching studio.

893
01:32:01,400 --> 01:32:11,400
And please check out Hike's past performances on his YouTube channel at HikeArsinian6077.

894
01:32:11,400 --> 01:32:21,400
So anyway, this has been a fun, inspiring conversation, Dr. Arsenian. But before I let you go, before I let you go, we have one more thing to do.

895
01:32:21,400 --> 01:32:26,400
It's called the Piano Part Rapid Fire Questions. I didn't explain this to you. I forgot.

896
01:32:26,400 --> 01:32:30,400
So this is part of the show where I get to ask fun questions to each guest.

897
01:32:30,400 --> 01:32:35,400
Here is a little twist. As silly as these questions may sound, your answers may reveal who you truly are.

898
01:32:35,400 --> 01:32:42,400
So ready or not, let's start it. And then you don't have to explain. Just give me the shortest responses possible.

899
01:32:42,400 --> 01:32:45,400
All right. So what is your comfort food?

900
01:32:45,400 --> 01:32:51,400
Comfort food? Oh, ramen. Oh, recently. But ramen.

901
01:32:51,400 --> 01:32:57,400
How do you like your coffee in the morning? Black. Always black. And hot.

902
01:32:57,400 --> 01:33:04,400
Cats or dogs? Dogs. No, no question. Sunrise or sunset? Sunset.

903
01:33:04,400 --> 01:33:07,400
Summer or winter? Summer.

904
01:33:07,400 --> 01:33:13,400
What skill have you always wanted to learn but hadn't had a chance to?

905
01:33:13,400 --> 01:33:18,400
Like a realistic skill or like for example, flying. I would love to fly.

906
01:33:18,400 --> 01:33:23,400
Anything. Flying? Okay, that sounds great. I would love to fly. It's impossible, but who knows.

907
01:33:23,400 --> 01:33:31,400
What is your word or words to live by? That's a difficult one. Maybe authenticity. The honesty.

908
01:33:31,400 --> 01:33:39,400
What is the most important quality you look for in other people? Honesty.

909
01:33:39,400 --> 01:33:45,400
Name three people who inspire you, living or dead.

910
01:33:45,400 --> 01:33:57,400
I will go with Bach, definitely. I will go with Hesse, Hermann Hesse, like time. And goodness.

911
01:33:57,400 --> 01:34:02,400
You know what? I will go like totally shallow. But right now that's what I feel.

912
01:34:02,400 --> 01:34:12,400
I will go with Radiohead. He has inspired me so much. The band. And Tom York, of course. Yes, big time. Absolutely.

913
01:34:12,400 --> 01:34:16,400
And why am I saying shallow? Not even shallow. His music is super deep.

914
01:34:16,400 --> 01:34:22,400
Alright, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great. Good answer. Now, name one piece in your current playlist.

915
01:34:22,400 --> 01:34:28,400
The whole Radiohead album is there right now. Are you ready for the next one? The last question.

916
01:34:28,400 --> 01:34:39,400
Why should I be scared? We'll see. Fill in the blank. Music is blank. Life. Life? Great.

917
01:34:39,400 --> 01:34:48,400
So that wraps up this episode of The Pianopause. Thank you, Haik, for joining us today and then sharing your stories and insights and expertise.

918
01:34:48,400 --> 01:34:54,400
It was so fun. Your authenticity and joyous energy have truly inspired our conversation.

919
01:34:54,400 --> 01:35:05,400
You can learn more about Dr. Haik Arsenian and his amazing work through his website at solarsworld.com and HaikArsenian.com.

920
01:35:05,400 --> 01:35:10,400
And you can watch his past presentations and performance on his YouTube channel.

921
01:35:10,400 --> 01:35:15,400
All the links are listed in the show notes. Thank you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in today.

922
01:35:15,400 --> 01:35:20,400
If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review it on wherever you get your podcast.

923
01:35:20,400 --> 01:35:26,400
Remember to hit the thumbs up button and subscribe to my YouTube channel if you're watching this episode on YouTube.

924
01:35:26,400 --> 01:35:32,400
Follow TPP on social media to get the latest piano news via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

925
01:35:32,400 --> 01:35:56,400
I will see you for the next episode of The Pianopause. Bye everyone and thank you, Haik. Thank you so very much. Thank you so much. It was fun. It was fun.