Karine poghosyan biography of christopher miller

From Carnegie Hall to the banquet halls of local New York Armenian churches; from albums of Khachaturian and other classical composers to her popular mini-concerts on social media; Poghosyan inspires listeners with her vivacious, passionate piano interpretations of a wide range of classical music. At the time, I a Michigan native was living in the New York area, and with a few friends and their families, I attended the annual dinner held at the Holy Cross Church in Washington Heights, Manhattan.

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The historic parish on th Street has lost the once-vibrant Armenian neighborhood that surrounded it, but many with historic ties to the church return for periodic events meant to keep the place afloat. As we sat down to an Armenian feast of lamb and pilaf, I was told that the entertainment of the evening would be a classical pianist. I nodded mildly, expecting a typical innocuous hantes performance that would inevitably include one of the Armenian classical composers, which in this country seems to mean only either Komitas or Khachaturian.

I was right about Armenian composers, but wrong about everything else. A young woman ascended the dais and began to hammer out a Khachaturian piece like her life depended on it. Astounded by the fireworks coming from the piano, I turned around to observe. The pianist, who I was seeing and hearing for the first time, looked like she was possessed of such a musical soul that one could observe on her face, in the gestures of her hands, and her entire comportment, emotions similar to what Khachaturian himself must have had when he composed the piece.

Poghosyan, who was born and raised in Yerevan, took the obligatory piano lessons — as all Armenian girls do, she says. She hated them at first. Then, at age 13, her old piano teacher moved away and she got a new teacher, Irina Ghazaryan, who changed everything for her. Poghosyan came to Los Angeles at 18 with her parents who nurtured her artistic dreams.

Her father is noted painter Razmik Pogosyan, and her mother, Melanya Navoyan, is an engineer who also dabbles in painting. After getting her Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance from Cal State Northridge, her teachers, recognizing her talents, encouraged her to go to the center of classical music — the East Coast. After being accepted at the Manhattan School of Music, the family took a Uhaul truck across the country.