Season 5 Episode 3: Dr. Hayk Arsenyan - Award-Winning Pianist, Composer, Educator, & Scholar

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Hello, Piano Pod friends and listeners! Welcome back to the show. You are tuning in to the third episode of Season 5, and we are so thrilled to introduce our guest, award-winning pianist, composer, educator, and my dear friend, Dr. Hayk Arsenian. The music you just heard at the beginning of this episode is one of the three Sonatas in D by Antonio Soler, a Spanish composer whose works bridge the late Baroque and early Classical periods, performed by today's guest. Hayk is a scholar of Antonio Soler, and recently he published a book about the composer, titled El Mundo de Antonio Soler. So today you'll get an in-depth look at this fascinating, lesser-known composer, as well as explore Dr. Arsenian's adventurous and exciting musical career. Later in the episode, we'll dive into more philosophical discussions on how classical music can thrive in the contemporary world and how we can authentically reach out to audiences. A big welcome to all our first-time listeners and viewers. I am Yukimi Song, a classical pianist and educator based in New York City. Whether you are pursuing a piano career, working in the classical music industry, or simply passionate about piano music, this podcast is your backstage pass to the fascinating world of piano. Let me give you a quick overview of The Piano Pod with In our biweekly episodes, we dive into captivating conversations with guests who are making waves in the classical music industry. Our mission is to build a vibrant community that embraces fresh ideas, ensuring classical music stays alive and meaningful in our ever-changing world. 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. And don't forget to catch up on our previous seasons, available on your favorite podcast platforms or on our YouTube channel. Now let me tell you a bit more about today's guest. Dr. Hayk Arsenian is a renowned pianist, composer, educator, and scholar based in New York City. He has performed in some of the world's most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Salle Cortot in Paris and Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, as well as in recitals across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. A native of Armenia, Hayk made his orchestral debut at just 11 years old, performing his own composition with the Armenian Philharmonic. He later made his European debut with the Radio France National Philharmonic Orchestra, earning a platinum medal from the City of Paris. In addition to his extensive performance career, Hayek is a scholar of 18th-century Iberian music with a particular focus on the works of Antonio Soler. His book on Soler has been published in Spain, and his expertise in Baroque and Classical repertoire is widely recognized. He is also a longtime professor at NYU's TISCH School of the Arts. Where he continues to shape the next generation of musicians. Before we dive in, I want to take a moment to thank our amazing TPP fans and loyal listeners for your continued support. 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. Now, get ready to uncover the secrets behind Dr. Hayk Arsenian's remarkable multifaceted career as a pianist, composer, educator, and scholar. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. You are listening to The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song, 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. Welcome to The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song, or should I address you as Dr. Asinyan after all these years?

I think after all of these years and our friendship, I think we definitely don't need those suffixes and other additions. I think we're good friends.

Great.

So even my students don't address me as doctor. You know, the only time, in fact, when I get something with Dr. Arsenian, I know that they want money because it's the fundraising department of the university.

I see. Yes, yes, yes.

So I'm not sure how, how, you know, effective that doctor thing is. Okay. Well, but I'm trying to heal people, you know, with music.

Oh, hey, there we go.

Yes, yes, yes.

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

Thank you very much for hosting me.

And so for our listeners who perhaps do not know, um, Hayk and I have been really friends for many years, 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. And for those who are new to The Piano Pod, Eric Hunter is a pianist also and a composer who created this podcast theme tune, and he was one of the original members of The Piano Pod team during Season 1. So big shout out to Eric Hunter if you're listening. Anyway, Haik. Yes, yes, coming back to you. So, and I have recently had a pleasure of attending your beautiful concert at St. John's in the Village with the violinist Philip Bugatti, and we'll get into the performance a little later, but I have to say, even after so many years of our friendship, I didn't realize the breadth of your accomplishments as an artist, educator, and scholar. Your journey, you know, life's journey, even from Armenia to Paris to Moscow and eventually to New York City, is truly truly remarkable.

Thank you very much. Thank you. That's very kind of you.

Yeah, and speaking of your scholarly work, I know you are deeply passionate about the music of Antonio Soler. Am I pronouncing okay?

Absolutely right.

So for our listeners who may not be familiar with Antonio Soler, he was a fascinating but also lesser-known composer and especially compared to contemporaries like Scarlatti. So let's start with the topic of Antonio Soler and your passion and obsession with his music. 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?

Absolutely, thank you. So let me tell you that I found, I discovered Solar absolutely randomly in Moscow at the main library when I was looking for a Baroque work to perform for my upcoming exam back then. And I wanted to find something lesser played, you know, than Bach and Handel and, you know, and even Scarlatti, you know. So it was basically a Baroque early classical that was the era that I had to find the work for. And I found Froberger, which was fascinating. I loved it. And I took those scores. And then right next to Froberger, it was a book by, you know, Book of Sonatas by Soler. And, you know, it was supposed to be alphabetically placed, but F and S are definitely far apart. So somebody just misplaced Soler next to Proberger just especially for me. So I took that book and read through the sonatas in my mind and I understood, okay, I'm kind of falling in love. I have to, you know, take this book with me and read through them at the instrument at home, which I did. And I, since that very moment, Solar entered into my life and is going with me strongly. And later, much, much Later, I— when it was time for me to choose my dissertation topic for my doctorate, at that point I had already been playing dozens of his sonatas, and it was clear that this is the composer, this is the topic that I want to pursue and even learn for myself too, you know, much deeper, because that's also what it does when you are getting into doctorate studies. And you have to research, you are learning so much more. And so Soler, we don't really know when he was born exactly, but he was baptized in 1729. Yes, it's one of those cases of early music when we don't know when he was born. Was baptized in 1729 in Olot in Catalonia. At the age of 23, he moved to El Escorial, which was the monastery summer palace, you know, not far from Madrid. And that's when he also died in 1783. So he served the court, the monastery, the church until his death. His contribution is quite large in terms of piano sonatas, and that's very controversial, Fandango. But to me, the best Fandango that any of the composers at the time, uh, tried. But I will also tell you, controversial, because some scholars think that it may not be actually by Sodak. I think it is. Yes. So, um, he has a lot of religious and, uh, choir works, but, uh, for The Piano Pod, it's mainly just the sonatas and that fandango. Sonatas are, are incredible. I think, you know, honestly, as, as for his legacy, as for his importance for music. He belongs to that style of stile galant, which is again that bridging, you know, style between post-Baroque, pre-classical. And in my opinion, anything that is in the bridge, in that connection, is really what belongs to the past and predicts the future and is in that very ever, ever-changing, you know, very vibrant and colorful present, you know, that is all, it's almost boiling, you know, present that is about to turn into something else. But it is very much the past too. So when you are listening to Soler sonatas, it's, you can clearly hear the Baroque and you can clearly hear the classical, but it's neither or. And that's what I really adore about his works. And as opposed to Scarlatti, which he kind of reminds me in style, Scarlatti, but he's a little bit later than Scarlatti. And he's Spanish. And that Spanish idiom is strongly represented in his music and much more organic because let's remember, Scarlatti was not Spanish. He was requested to compose Spanish music. He was Italian. He was brought by Maria Barbara da Bragança, who was a Portuguese princess, and then she married into Spanish king and brought Scarlatti with him to Spain. So this is an Italian who went to Iberia and was requested to compose Iberian music, well, namely Spanish. But then there was the Spanish composer Antonio Soler, who actually never made it to Madrid. He always stayed provincial. He stayed there. So it's an interesting, you know, thought that, uh, probably a lot of cultures also had that, a little bit of that foreigner eye, you know, to see how the outsider is doing, in my opinion. But again, like, 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. It was the time when harpsichord was turning into a piano, right? And it was also at a time, you know, up until even late Mozart notes, composers at some point even gave up to— gave up on specifying what instrument exactly it was written for because it was interchangeable. It was for the obscure, but also the pianoforte and clavichord, you know. And so they just started writing keyboard. So, uh, this is again that bridging, you know, style, right? So I think that contribution is really inspiring for the music that was to come.

Interesting. Now, what sparked your interest in this composer? You happen to stumble upon his score, but what exactly was it, the attraction? And also your interest in 18th century Iberian music, what drew you to specifically for this genre or time period and then the region as well?

As I said, I absolutely just stumbled upon. I wasn't looking for anything Spanish or anything. I didn't even know about his existence, uh, back then. I was quite young too. 18, 19 years old when I discovered it. Spain and everything Spanish, I think, is fascinating to me. I think it's very distinct in its culture. If you can listen to 18th century— and I don't want these other cultures to be offended, but I feel like there is that sort of a European ear, European style, where you won't necessarily hear a huge difference between French 18th century, German, English, you know, Austrian. However, I feel like anything Spanish in general, whether it's 18th century or whatever other century, anything Spanish just really strikes as Spanish. And you don't have to be a musician to to kind of get into that pose of like, oh, I'm going to dance, you know, and get my hands ready for clapping, you know.

Right.

I feel like it's so distinct. And even the food and everything is just about Spain, very different. And to me, very attractive. And when I opened those scores, even without the instrument, I was kind of reading through in my mind. I heard those idioms. You know, I heard that, uh, those harmonies are very, very peculiar in a very good way. You know, those harmonic progressions are not standard. The length of the phrases are really not symmetrical. Those changes are very abrupt and shocking and, uh, very, very nice. And I As it was, as I was hearing this in my head, later on at home when I was playing the instrument already, I understood that with each phrase I am more and more drawn to this. But I will tell you also, the attraction towards early music has started much, much earlier in my life as well. When I was a kid and even elementary school, elementary to middle school, in Armenia, well, I went to a specialized school for gifted and talented in music that was affiliated by the conservatory, the State Conservatory in Yerevan, although it was a violinist then. We had an orchestra, several orchestras, but also there was an orchestra, the chamber orchestra, the conductor and the director of which, Daniel Erazish, was a specialist of ancient music, ancient and early music. So we played a lot of not only early Armenian music, but we also played a lot of early European music. So we played, uh, you know, Froberger also. We played a lot of early music in general, and I loved, you know, the, the genre. And he used to say this one thing too, that, you know, how delicate is and how transparent is early music. He would compare early music to the white sheets, you know, as opposed to the very colorful and lots of patterns and flowers and bright signs and all of that, the much later music. You would say this is white sheet and the golden simplicity where any little stain is heard by everyone. You have to be pristine. Is that pristine purity, in simpleness, you know, simplicity. And I was always attracted by that, you know, simple, that minimalism almost, that pure, that pristine soul. And at the same time, how that is getting ornamented also in such an elegant way.

Yeah, but now to play those early music on the modern piano has its own challenges, right? Because it's basically we are transcribing because they are two completely different instruments. But as you mentioned, his time period was so after, let's say, after Scarlatti. So he was sort of in between the time period from Baroque to Classical. So, but do you still find it the notations are a bit different from what we usually use on the modern instrument? Is there, is there a specific challenge do you encounter playing his music?

His music, or just in general any, uh, early music, I feel like when you are playing that music on the modern instrument, that on its own is already a challenge, right? Because you need to keep that pertinence of the historical style, but apply it to the current instrument. And that is, in fact, what my book is about, or what initially my doctorate, my doctoral dissertation was about. So how to perform the music of Antonio Soler, in this case, on the example of 3 sonatas on a modern instrument while keeping the pertinence of style. Historical style. That, of course, demands research and an understanding of, in general, early music style and ornamentation and articulation, the dynamics used. So now there is the question, if the historical instrument had the capacity of the modern instrument and the composers had access to that, Do we think that they would ignore that capacity? They would not ignore it. Bach, when he was presented, you know, with a replica of, uh, of, of Christopher Piano by, by another harpsichord maker, a German harpsichord maker, who made a copy of it, the stem piano, he loved it and he approved it. Now, whether that was why it was not accepted and purchased by the court, And why the court did not turn the harpsichords into pianos, that's a different question. And a lot of, you know, the courts will go back and forth between turning them into the pianos and then converting back into harpsichords. Some were able to do it. That's a different question. This is something, again, we are talking about the bridges and that's the connection. And sometimes you're afraid of crossing that bridge. But I think that anything to keep current and to keep alive, we need to perform, and we need to perform also on the modern instrument. I strongly believe that it's— we should not play early music on the early instruments. We should play it on the modern instrument. Again, keeping the personal style. This is the the key. You know, it's very interesting in terms of, you know, performance practices and use of the capacities of modern instruments in performing a work by an early composer. I remember when I heard first time, I heard András Schiff play Bach's Goldberg Variations at Symphony Hall in Chicago. And midway performance, suddenly I noticed that he was not using pedal. I think that's, that is the statement I would make that, you know, you are using the modern instrument the way you want to produce a sound, a specific sound that you want for this specific work. Not to make a statement that, okay, well, Bach's instrument did not have pedals, I'm not using pedals. But you're not using pedals to create the sound that you want to, the timbre you want to. And it happens so that you get that sound without using the pedal. However, It's so organically done that the audience is not seeing it, is not noticing it, is not hearing the absence of pedal. So it's not for the sake of novelty or it's not for the sake of a statement. It's for the sake of music. I use pedal, although I will tell you, I was so heavily influenced by that shock, you know, oh my God. That I did play Bach for a while without pedal, and I'm so thankful to that experience because I do use pedal when I play Bach or Solero or any early music. I do use pedal, but I think for a couple of years of not using pedal in— and in fact, also very often even the romantic music or whatever I'm playing when I'm performing, practicing, I hardly ever use pedal. But that all started, you know, because I wanted to not use pedal and replicate that sound, that incredible sound that I was so enchanted by, you know, that I heard by, uh, Sif. And that helped me hear the lines and hear the phrases and everything so much better that when I started actually using pedal, I started using pedal as spice, as something addition, as not a necessity, as not something that is automatically going there, but as something that I want to, that had a specific purpose, right? Of extracting and creating the sound that I wanted, not the sound that I wanted to sound like his sound, which at first I wanted to, you know?

Yeah.

And I'm thankful to that desire and so thankful to His, his sound was a revolution. It was a revolution for me.

Wow.

And just the fact that I noticed it, like, I don't know, half an hour in after the concert, it was that organic, you know? So that kind of brings me to the idea of authenticity, and that's probably what we are always thinking about. I think authentic is actually what is convincing. What is organic? Yes, it is. It needs to be based on research. It needs to be based on the knowledge, but it also needs to be authentic to the times when we are living. It needs to be now because the instrument, even if I go to the Met Museum and play on the Cristofori piano, I'm not playing at the monastery or the palace where I'm playing. So I'm not at that acoustic anymore. Not playing for the music, I mean, for the audience that that music was played for. So the acoustics is different, the ears are different, everything is different. So the authenticity of, in its global sense, is already broken. So how am I feeling it right now and how am I transferring it to the ears of the right now? How organic is it, that's probably how authentic it is. Do you know what I mean?

Totally. Thank you. And you know, this season's theme of The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song is authenticity. So thank you for that. Wow, beautifully said. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, makes sense. It's not just about respecting the past and try to play like the past, but also how you are interpret that in terms of like bringing into the century, right?

Yes. And I think early music is just in general so, so creative. I feel like as performers, well, in general, performers should be co-creators, but I feel like that co-creating power is given even more in early music that, you know, we are given that base, you know, like almost like that, the model, right? And we are asked, or the model and the theme, and we are asked to design this costumes and entire, you know, wardrobe to dress that model, you know, in a way. And then we're, you know, interchanging, you know, this hat with this suit and with this shoes with this, whatever, you know, and And we are just changing and it's sometimes so fun to really remodel it. And, uh, sometimes that remodeling is happening right on the spot, you know, on the stage and that's co-creating and that's improvising. And that's probably what was later on found in, in jazz music and contemporary music. So that's why I feel like there is a lot for us performers of that music. There's a lot also. A lot in common between early and now, and, you know, the contemporary music, the early music, and, um, interesting. And maybe that's why also bringing that early music into the contemporary stage and feel and playing it on the contemporary instrument is also vital and also is adding to that authenticity.

Right. Then, Aina, kind of want to talk about your project solarsworld.com. I visited the website and brings together your book and concert programs and master classes focused on the late Baroque and early classical music, and of course, uh, Antonio Soler's— so sorry, it's solarsworld.com, my pronunciation, sorry. Your newly published book, you mentioned a little briefly at the beginning of this episode, El Mundo de Antonio Soler, as to the existing literature on Soler. What language did you write this in?

Right, the book is part of my doctoral dissertation. It was defended back in 2009 and was published by the University of Iowa Press, and it's, uh, it's on public review. Then later on, right before the pandemic, uh, it was translated by the biographer of Alicia de la Rocha, Monica Varges. It was translated into Spanish to be published, uh, in Barcelona by a very famous, um, and one of the oldest also publishing houses, uh, Baló Editorial de Música in Barcelona. And it was very symbolic for me because, well, they are a big publisher not only in Spain but in general in Europe. And, uh, when I was studying in Paris, As a teenager, I used some of their books too, some of their books in my classes, you know, uh, and, and it was symbolic for me to, to have my own book published by them later, several years later, many years later. Of course, because of the pandemic, you know, the project got stalled and later on in 2022, it was finally published in Barcelona and now I am touring the book with presentations and concerts and masterclasses. I am performing 9 of his sonatas and the Fandango in about an hour-long concert program. So there is a nice body of program, you know, of information written on Soler, but there is not that much, you know, written on the— performance aspect of the sonatas, and especially on performance of his music on a modern instrument. So this book is a performance guide to how to perform this music on the modern instrument. That's what it was.

Now, can you just tell me a little bit about this Fandango, please? This Sensational Fandango by Solère.

The Sensational Fandango by Solère. And you know that there is also a Fandango by Scarlatti as well. And a lot of those composers at the time, they were asked, I guess, to write a fandango. But here's the thing, Scarlatti was living also at the court too, and he was not a church musician. He was not Padre Scarlatti, as opposed to Antonio Soler, who was Padre Antonio Soler. And a fandango is not a dance that is supposed to be written, created by someone of a religious character. You know, it was quite an erotic dance. So that only was already scandalous. However, in the 1750s, there's 2 years when we don't really know what happened to Soler. He left the monastery those 2 years. It's very interesting that his manuscripts and the dates are very sporadic. So a lot of the dates don't really go chronologically. A lot of the, um, sonatas. Many sonatas don't have dates also. So it's very difficult to judge when is written what, uh, what is written when. And one can judge plus minus by the development of his style. We can't really tell how many exactly, how many sonatas he wrote as well, because some of the sonatas could be paired, some of them not. So this whole date situation is so confusing. We don't really, really know when exactly the Fandango was written. However, scholars believe that if it was written by, by Soler, it probably was written during those 2 years in the 1750s when he was out and about, out with dancing school, uh, Fandango.

Yeah, but it's the '50s, people say, so maybe that's—

I love that.

The 1750s.

Yeah, it's the '50s.

Remember that time? Yeah, so maybe, maybe he was the hippie of the '70s.

Yeah, who knows?

A hippie pastor, yes. But, you know, I like that idea. You know, that open-mindedness. I can tell you one thing that as a composer, he definitely was very open-minded. And, um, and I think in general, I would even say extravagant and probably extravagant that really fits to that whole, and my Armenian opinion of Spanish culture to be very extravagant in a very cool, cool way. When you even think of where Soler lived. In El Escorial, I mean, on one hand, it's a very somber place because it's not only the, the summer palace of the Spanish royals, but it's actually the burial place also. So it's a mausoleum, if you want to think. It's also a monastery. Speaking of the burial place, for me, it's extravagant to have your own coffin with your name right there when you are still alive and to see that. But it's also an approach towards death that makes that death expected and kind of welcomed and normal and not scary and part of that organic life. And it's an extravagant thought, but I love it. And to have it dance, Sarabanda, that is a funeral dance. I mean, are we talking about extravagant and are we talking about open-mindedness? Absolutely. And I love this and I feel like it's a beautiful way to approach life and death. And we can take that to many philosophers, you know, saying the philosophy of Hume, you know, the existential philosophy of Hume, how can you prove that you are alive right now, that you are not dreaming, you know. So if life is not as realistic or as— if life can be a dream and is not proven, then death is just as much of a dream. So life and death are sort of on the same line. Why not? You know, so both can be just as beautiful and as natural.

Oh yeah. So death is part of life.

Yeah. Right.

Weird way to say, but it's true.

Okay.

We went super hippie right now.

Yes. The '50s triggers you. It's funny, but do you plan to record like a, to, or make an official album of Antonio Soler's music in the future?

Absolutely. I would love to do that to be a companion to my book because I think it's one thing when you are talking about it and then another thing when it's actually accompanied, you know, by the sounds of what you are talking about. Which is why so far I am, you know, accompanying the book with concerts, but I would like to also send out my book with its accompanying CD. The book is available, you know, in physical stores in Madrid, in Barcelona, but it's also available online.

So if people go to slayersworld.com, then they have the access to your book?

Yes, if people go to www solarsworld.com, they can, you know, be redirected to Boileau Editorial's website or just purchase straight on my website when they can purchase it there. But all of that information is on that solarsworld.com website. Okay.

Before we continue, we would like to take a moment to highlight our sponsor, Musician's Path to Peak Performance by Dr. John Skidmore. Their support makes this episode possible.

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Now, while your work on Solère is deeply tied to the Iberian tradition, I know your Armenian roots play an equally or more important— who knows, I don't know— important role in shaping your artistic identity. So Armenia has such a rich musical heritage, and you've performed works by notable Armenian composers like Achaturian and Comitas, right? Am I pronouncing— yeah, absolutely.

Comitas. Yeah.

Okay, so could you take us to the world of Armenian music? What are this— you mentioned about Spanish music being so, um, you know, distinctive, you know. And so what do you think about Armenian music and how has its style influenced your approach to performance?

I think Armenian music This is, this is, I'm always, I always feel biased, you know, talking about Armenian music because it's almost always talking about your own, you know, kids, like how beautiful and how smart they are. It's like, yes, they are your kids. So, and I always feel a little bit the same way, biased talking about my own heritage and my music. But 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. And yes, I think it's very distinctive, distinctively different, you know, from, from rest of music in a way that it often feels like it's connecting the East and West. You know, it is very much in between, you know, it, does sound European, but it also does sound Middle Eastern. And maybe it is, of course, connected deeply to its location, right? Where it's geographically located, right? Between East and West. And of course, all the influences from our neighbors and all the historical influences, the huge influence, you know, by Russia or France or All of, all of the, the history is also what shapes the culture too. In fact, culture shapes the history too. Anyway, they're all interchangeable. Komitas, the father of Armenian classical music, although of course there was classical music before that too, 20th century, but what, what Komitas did is very similar to what Bartók did. So he also went from village to village and sort of purified, you know, from the foreign influences. Music. Pandemic gave me a very interesting gift because of the time and being stuck in one place and not, uh, performing and not traveling. I had the time to also dive in into a little bit myself, to my interests and my own culture, my heritage, and find competitions that I haven't played that I would love to play. And again, I stumbled upon this work. I had a book, you know, a friend of mine gave me that was published in the early 2000s of Komitas's German works. So it includes, you know, some of his German songs that are mostly written on the words, you know, on the poetry of Goethe, Rilke, and others. And so I was looking through, you know, those songs, but I also found this piano works that he wrote while he was studying in Germany. And I found this nocturne that was incredibly beautiful. And then I was commissioned by the Armenian Museum of America in Boston to record this beautiful work, which I did. And it was released in 2020, so during pandemic. 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, but Komitas was showing in this work his own developing language that was so postmodernist in a way. It was it had that language of even sometimes I would say Wagner, you know, or some German feel, but then at the same time you could feel that it was an Armenian composer, but it was in a way hidden or as French would say, voilà, you know, like it was under a voile, you know, and that made me a little bit think about that national, that ethnic value of music. How much do we really, really need that in the original music? Yes, we are getting fascinated by the Spanish idiom and the music of Soler and falling in love with it, or the Armenian-ness of Komitas or Khachatourian, that sort of how Khachaturian made his mark in the world of music, right? I mean, as one of the biggest composers in the world. And world knows that he's an Armenian composer. 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. And we connect on many, many common grounds, and we are all the same at the same time. Yes, we, we like certain distinct things, and we are distinct on its own, on our own, but at the end of the day, we're all also human. So there are those common traits that touch us. Right? Me being not Spanish, there is something in that Spanish that is not the Spanish that touches me. That is not hidden, that wallay under, behind that wall, but is common with me, with my Armenian soul, my Armenian part, my human part, that Spanish somehow touches me, or the French of Debussy touches me, Norman. You know, and I feel that as performers, we should really, I don't want to say concentrate, but we should not overlook that part, you know, and perhaps not super concentrate on what's different and think of what's us, what's me in that Spanish, what's me in that Japanese, what's me in that You know, French, what's me in that? Whatever other culture you think of, you know, what's me in you? What's me in her or him? And what is it that makes it authentic when I am playing?

So now you got me really curious about your upbringing because we are talking about Armenia. Oh, and you have such extensive foreign experiences. 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? Because you moved to different countries at such a young age.

I moved to Paris when I was 14. Yes.

I know. I know. I saw it. So we'll talk about that, but as I was researching, I discovered that you were also once a violinist for 10 years. 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 and I am after all a pianist?

Well, I was a composer always since a very, very young age. I started composing, and I was composing on the piano. So most of my compositions are on the piano. I am a pianist, a composer pianist. Yes, I played the violin for many, many years. I played for over 10 years the violin, and I was playing quite a serious program, you know, Lalo Symphony Español, and you have to speak in German, and Scherzo Tarantella, Tarantella, and so like serious program. I knew how to play, and as I was saying earlier on, I was at the, uh, in the orchestras, you know, the school. I love the violin. I loved my teacher very, very much. It was the director of the Tchaikovsky Music School where I went to. But again, my soul was in the, in The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. I was composing on the piano, and I was playing my own compositions, which were at the time heavily influenced by Liszt and Rachmaninoff and had a lot of, you know, octaves and big passages and were kind of virtuosic. 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, you know, at school. And I was performing a lot in those concerts and performing as a composer. So on the piano. So as the kids and the teachers knew that I was a violinist, I was still all the time performing as a pianist composer. And in fact, when I was sent to Paris in 1993 to perform at the UNESCO Palace at one of the concerts, so we had a tour. So I was chosen as a composer to perform in this concert. France, several cities there. And I went to Paris. I fell in love with Paris right away, instantly. And I wanted to move there to study. And I asked the host family if they could find out when the exams to the conservatory would be. And they did. They invited me to stay with them again, you know, to, you know, while I was playing, get the entrance, you know, exams. And I played at the exams as a pianist. So I played a serious program as well. So I played Liszt, Rachmaninoff, some Katchaturian, you know, whatever, you know, the program was. 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 side. But because I was playing my own compositions, My teacher, and she was the director, so she had that power, she said, okay, well, your piano teacher is going to give you— it's almost like having double major, which is not really the case. And I had a triple major. I had piano, composition, and violin as majors at school. So I went to take the exams as a pianist, and I got in, and I went back to Armenia and told my teacher, I'm so very sorry, but I'm moving to Paris now as a pianist. He was not happy with that.

Well, that's an incredible story because you already had this, I don't know, performance opportunities, but also will to be— you are born to be musician, I guess, you know, there was no doubt about it. But did that come from maybe your background? Like, it was there, are you coming from a musical family?

Not at all. I, uh, there is not, not a music musician in, in my family, but every single person in my family on both sides were huge supporters, supporters of music and me. So I am incredibly grateful to my family and their support, especially my mom, you know, because she, she was young, very, very young, or age difference is almost 20 years old. So she turned 21, she had me like the next day she turned 20. 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. You know, whatever I was taught, she was taught. She was writing down, she was doing everything. She was learning the notes. She was sitting with me hours to practice, you know, the violin and then the piano. 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 became a musician.

It sounds like there was like a sort of not only parental support, but there was a support system. Armenia as a country, it's a little different from the United States.

Absolutely. Yes. That continues to be post-Soviet Union too. Early childhood training, musical training, free, governmental. So all over the country we have, you know, music schools. Are 7 to 11 years old 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 subjects there are in music. So everybody can register and get that free education. Then there are also specialized music schools that are gifted and talented. So for those kids, And those are very competitive to get in, again for free, but those are affiliated to the conservatory. Sort of like when, when you graduate from that school, it's clear that you are going to be a musician. I moved to Paris earlier, so I didn't study at the Yerevan Conservatory. I studied in Paris. Um, I moved there when I was 14, uh, finished the school there, studied at the conservatory. I did my master's in Moscow, then doctorate at the University of Iowa. That was a little bit of a detour from the big cities, but I had a wonderful time. 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. Then I was fortunate to have met now a good friend of mine, Inessa Sienkiewicz, who happened to be in Iowa at the time, and, and I gave her my CD, uh, or just various, you know, music that included also some pieces by Soler, to take to Solomon Mikovsky to New York to show. I needed an opinion, another ear. I needed to get out of Iowa. I was almost done with my doctorate and I was looking for the next steps. And she was kind. She took it to Mikovsky. A couple months later, when I already forgot, about everything and about the CD. I was at school practicing, got out of the school quite late at night, turned on my phone, turned on my car, driving home, and I'm listening to voicemail, and there goes a voicemail from Dr. Mikowski saying, "Hi, this is Dr. Mikowski, and Inessa gave me your CD, 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. And I would love to talk to you. I'm not sure why you, why exactly you gave your CD to me, but I would love to discuss with you. So give me a call back when you get a chance. I almost got in a car accident. I was like, oh my God. So I did a U-turn back to the school. And continued practicing. And in the morning I called Mikulski and I was like, so why did you call me? What do you want to do? I said, well, I'm almost done with my studies and I'm looking for opportunities. And I know that you have festivals and various concert series. I would love to work with you, perform at your festivals. And it's like, well, you know, most of the festivals are open to my students. Would you like to study with me? Absolutely, what program? I'm almost done. And he said that, you know, there is performance studies and artist diploma programs in Chicago and in New York, and I should audition. So I auditioned and I got full tuition scholarships in both of the institutions. At Chicago, actually, I got a bigger award too. It also included the room and board. But at Manhattan School of Music, I got an award from Evgeny Yukitsyn, a full tuition scholarship and a stipend. Wow. So again, a symbolic award to me because I loved Evgeny Yukitsyn's performances since I was a kid. And my very, very first love, you know, at the age of I was 5, you know, she gave me the LP of Kissing, so it was symbolic for me to receive that.

And that's a huge deal. And I know, 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 Kissing Award. But you've mentioned that once, remember, a couple years ago, uh, we were at Carnegie Hall. I guess it was the students' performance, and we were walking.

I do talk about it all the time.

Oh yeah?

Because I'm a kidhead. Not all the time, but I do I mentioned it because it's, uh, well, first of all, it's a, as I said, it's a symbolic, you know, thing for me, but it's also a big deal in a way that, well, it's rarely, you know, given a full tuition scholarship at NYU Steinhardt and at Manhattan School of Music. And also it's important for me because that's what brought me to New York along with the, the position at NYU, you know. So, but it's also New York and it's also not easy to be in New York and This is a golden invitation to New York. So when I mentioned that I received a bigger scholarship in Chicago, is why, because when Dr. Mikoski asked me, so which one are you taking, Chicago or New York? I said, New York, of course. He said, but you got more money in Chicago, and plus you don't need to spend any money on Room and board, you live for free and you receive money and you get your education. I said, yes, but I don't get New York. So, you know, that's why it's big. Yes, I did talk about it. So what did we talk about several years ago at Carnegie Hall?

Remember, so that our students' concert was at Weill Hall, which is like smaller but beautiful recital hall, and then right next to it is the huge Isaac Stern Hall. That, and that's like toward the end of the year. It was like one of those pandemic years, and then finally in-person live concert started, and then Kissing was performing that night.

Oh yes.

And then you said, oh, by the way, I received the Kissing Award. Huh. I was like, I never knew. 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 on Solare. You mentioned that. So finally the day has arrived and I'm interviewing you.

So, um, you know, I am grateful to you. Thank you very much again for your invitation, for remembering such things as well. You know, another thing why I think Kissing the World is such a big deal for me is also how much I respect him also as an Armenian myself. Why? Because he has been super supportive of Armenia and Armenian culture and Armenian history. And he performed in 2015, he performed at Carnegie Hall at a concert that was dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial. Not to mention that recently he also married an Armenian woman. And, and that concert was also co-sponsored by the organization that I am the director of the arts department of. So we talked a little bit about Armenia and Armenianness and Armenian culture. 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. 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, which is the oldest Armenian NGO in the world and the biggest. It's been headquartered in New York City since 1906 and has had performing arts, uh, scholarships for over 96 years at this point. And I am a scholarship recipient from AGBU and has had many performing arts initiatives I was invited to start up the department to centralize those initiatives and create more programs to promote Armenian arts and culture and artists, and in general, global artists who perform and are involved in the Armenian arts and culture. That was an honor for me. So that job, that position is more than a job for me. It's a mission that goes along with He being an Armenian, he being an Armenian who has lived most of his life outside of Armenia, you know, it's, it's important for me. So Evgeny Kissing, you know, supporting that and with his performance, you know, at a concert that commemorates, you know, the centennial of Armenian genocide, of course, and I would see you, I would tell you that. And yes, I do brag my connection to him on also that level. And you know, Manhattan School of Music is super expensive. It's an incredible institution. And, and I had an incredible time, a wonderful time, but I would not be able to afford studying there. And I would not be able to afford moving to New York City and living there if I did not have Kissing who paid it fully. So Kissing and of course Manhattan School of Music. And of course, Dr. Solomon Mikulski, since that very sad day just recently when we lost Dr. Mikulski just a week ago or so, there was a memorial concert, you know, in his memory at MSM. And so the current heads of the piano department, Inessa, uh, that I just mentioned, and, uh, Alexander Matushkin They have organized this festival of several concerts that are going to celebrate and commemorate Mikulski's memory. And I will be performing at the inaugural concert of the festival that is celebrated to Mikulski on October 8th. So it's sort of a brag, a shameless plug, and a little announcement. But as we are talking about Mikulski and Manhattan School of Music and KISSIN, I'm really looking forward to that, that performance, and eternally grateful, you know, to Mikowski, who invited me to Kissimmee High School of Music, to invite you, and in fact, grateful to New York every single day to be my best friend.

What a journey. Incredible. So tell me about any memorable concerts. Like, you've performed pretty much everywhere. I, um, in not just in the United States, but Latin America, Asia, Australia, Europe, of course, and, and Moscow as well. So any memorable concerts that stands out? I know that's a big question to ask.

It is a big question, to be honest. I did not think about that one. There are so many memorable concerts for different reasons. Including not so successful, you know, memories, right? Including traumatic memories. But I think in general, concert, concert as an experience, I think is a very interesting experience that is a communication, a communication that is sometimes forced communication. And you end up having You know, when you are not comfortable with the moment, with the audience, with yourself, and you're having this forced communication with yourself, and the audience can feel like also being forced, like, why am I witnessing a communication that is, you know, a conflict? That can happen, and I know 100% that It has happened to everyone, every single performer. When that communication is a broken conflict, then you're just thinking, okay, when is that second one? I'm done. Then I need to go. And I think it's such a useful moment to have that broken communication with yourself. Because any kind of broken communication is also a seed to plant for a better communication, a learning seed to plant better communication, a communication which is that beautiful communication that happens luckily more often than that broken communication. When you are stepping into this beautiful dialogue or a group communication within that audience, the co-creation part of like you, performer, and the composition itself. And it's a moment of epharia, of a nirvana, of that moment when perhaps you don't remember afterwards. It's like a little coma in a good sense when you are maybe in the skies walking with whatever. You know what I mean? And then when you are back to life, you don't remember what exactly happened. But what you remember is, remember that satisfaction of that communication, of that beautiful conversation, that nonverbal communication, that energy, circulation of energy between you, the audience, the work, the partner that you are communicating with, if it is chamber music or an orchestra.

Extra.

And perhaps that's why maybe the concert itself may, may not be memorable in a way. Although I do have, you know, concerts that I remember, you know, one of them, for example, in Bulgaria, in Sofia, probably it's memorable because I really, really got so deep into that feeling of the, the, the work that I got, uh, emotional actually. And I I was performing Mozart Concerto in A Major in 488, and that second movement, I got super emotional and I almost cried while performing. That doesn't happen often. I know that the audience loved it too. I had a lot of beautiful, you know, comments afterwards too. But I can remember the communication somehow. I remember the air. And I think that's the magic of music. I feel like that's probably the purpose of music. It's like a drug. You, you, it's, it's almost like that. Yeah, not that I do it. I don't want to, but it's, it's the moment of the surreal, the moment of being present into, into something completely else that is also so rooted in the reality. It's that bridge between reality and surreal.

Out-of-body experience, but at the same time, it It's happening within you too. You do a lot of fun, just like we talked about, you performed at the St. John's in West Village. That concert was beautiful. I attended. But also you, you did some fun stuff like a tango. Like there was a dancer and then there's a group of musicians and you were part of it. You're of course as a pianist. And do you like playing with group of people, chamber?

I love playing chamber music. I love playing all different kinds of projects, all different genres years ago with my very, very good friend and my roommate at the time, Andrew Holmstrand, and another good friend, Charles Clements, is a great bass player. We recorded Andrew's songs, you know, he's a singer-songwriter, pianist also, but singer-songwriter. We both loved Radiohead, so we also did some covers.

I love Radiohead.

I love Radiohead.

Oh, which Radiohead song do you like?

Oh my God, so many of them. So, so many of them. I love The Tourist. I love Street Spirit. I love the, the latest stuff even more because it goes so electro. And, you know, I love the Daydreaming and everything in it, right? That's classic. That's, that's classic. You know, I love also remixes of, of Radiohead, you know. You know, Tom York also does his own remixes too, and DJs in like dive bars in LA or something random. So it's not me talking to Shishi, you know, situation, no. And so all of those diverse, you know, genres I love. Of course I love chamber music. I did the concert that you came to with Philippe Pogadi. We did a beautiful program of Brahms, Clara and Robert Schumann. I love German music. I love the German Lieder, you know, Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, you know, Brahms songs. I love French music, of course. And I did a beautiful program of French nocturnes. In fact, that was the first concert coming out of pandemic. I did a concert, a solo recital called Nocturnal France at a speakeasy. Very, very cool. A true speakeasy. It's a beautiful restaurant with a great concert brand in the middle of the restaurant, and the restaurant is sort of like in a round shape. So everybody's— but you are surrounded by the people, and it's a true speakeasy because from the street side there is no sign. 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. It was sold out. What I did was Cocktails and Nocturnes. So it was the first time I was seeing people, you know, and an audience after 2 years of not seeing much. And it was awfully emotional, 2 years, you know, going through a lot of changes. 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, had a couple glasses of wine myself, and we indulged into the beautiful world of French nocturnal music, you know, with complete sets of Nocturnes by Poulenc, uh, Fauré, Chopin, and including Komitas's 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. 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. So I am an Armenian composer, but I am in a way a French composer too. And having spent formative lives, my 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. 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, Nico Andreas. We met up at a place and we're, hey, let's collaborate again together, we bunch of MSM, many years ago. As I was starting concert series at that speakeasy, I invited him to, to, to hire him, obviously, to, uh, to perform. And he's like, dude, I want to perform with you. How about we talk about a program? Here's this, this beautiful, you know, idea that is based on Federico García Lorca and all of these incredible composers and artists that were surrounded by him. And so he created this beautiful project of Lorca songs, you know, Lorca not only was a poet, but he was also an artist. And he did a little bit what Komitas did. He also went by village by village and he registered, you know, wrote down some of those folk melodies. And so basically he made transcriptions, like 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 My Lorca was way earlier, but he is very Spain. He created that atmosphere of Spain. But also we had Debussy and Albanese and Defalla and Leonard Cohen, who had a song that was based on Lorca's poem. So we did this beautiful project with Nilko and other friends. Who were flamenco singer, singer-songwriter, flamenco and classical dancer Paloma, Paloma de Vega, Alfonso Cid. And so Alfonso Cid was the singer and the flamenco singer, and Liz Chatler was the singer-songwriter. So, beautiful program that we did several performances, like 5, 6 sold-out performances.

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 are listening on your go-to podcast platform. Then follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok at The Piano Pod with behind-the-scenes content, episode updates, and more. Stay connected and inspired to celebrate the past, present, and future of classical music. I would like to know you as an educator. I did not know that you were teaching at NYU Tisch School. I thought— I mean, I went to NYU, but it was Steinhardt. I thought Steinhardt is the only school that offers music, Tisch was, I thought it was more like acting and things, but yeah, what are you teaching there?

So not anymore. I started teaching there after I moved to New York, basically. Well, I moved, as I said, you know, with the scholarship to MSM, but also I got a job right away, uh, 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, uh, Bolshoi Ballet, Bolshoi Theater when I was studying there in Moscow. So I was accompanying dance classes at Bolshoi Ballet. And, um, and I've worked with many renowned American and European dance companies, including Mark Morris and Juilliard and School of American Ballet and Joffrey Ballet, University of Iowa Ballet, NYU, Juilliard. 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, uh, student visa to a more stable visa, so that would be either teaching visa or, uh, or an artist visa, 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. 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. If you think, dancers are musicians. If my instrument is the piano, their instrument is their body. It's chamber music on its own way as well. 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. And again, talking that communication, and when the communication is broken, you have a bad moment and you need to go. And unfortunately, way too many breakups are happening in that world. So I was commissioned to create that bridge to have such an incessant, you know, communication that we will understand each other within seconds, because unfortunately, that is the task. We need to understand each other within seconds. 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. 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 piece of music that is over 5 to— sometimes 5 minutes or over, 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, you know, several seconds of information. If that information is not clear, you create that piece of music in such a way that it means to inspire and not to injure. Inspire their musicality, inspire their creativity. So I would teach that communication. So the dancer, the dance teacher, and the, um, the companies, the communication also between the choreographer and the composer, and communication between the choreographer and the performer of pre-written music. So after teaching that several years, and then I started also teaching the reverse class, teaching musicians how to work with the dancers. 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. 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, 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. 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. So that was super fun.

That's amazing. That's another part of you that I did not know that you were. Yeah. Well, you should brag a little bit more. I just brag. Anyway, but you know, because I only knew you at the beginning was you are local piano teacher. 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. And so that's a— on a— it's a contrast to, let's say, NYU Tisch or all the accolades you collected in the past. It's different, right? It's a really humbling grassroots effort in reaching out to the community. So what's the most challenging part of it, uh, to have tried to reach out, try to really be the promoter of classical music?

This is what we're getting back to, to the diversity that is provided by New York City and being in New York City. 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. On another hand, that is sort of a— it's like when parent, you know, forces you to do something while you are growing up, and then you're like, oh, thank you so much for doing this, you know. 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. And this way, he is also promoting what he does, promoting, like in my case, classical music, right? I am performing, I am teaching, I am writing, I am publishing articles, and I'm collaborating. All of this is, in a way, promoting classical music, right? I mean, The educational part is huge. Like, I'm writing, you know, and publishing educational articles. I am part of, you know, as you are, Piano Teachers Congress of New York. And I'm very, very thankful, you know, to be part of this incredible organization. And there we are sharing all of those educational aspects and thoughts and experiences that you go back home and you teach to your students, you teach your, like, in my case, my daughters, myself, right? We are constantly learning. And my audiences, in a way. But again, like, maybe I can change, you know, that word from teaching to sharing. Because I think for me, I probably don't like the word. Teaching much. I like more the word sharing. And that's going back all the way back at the very, very beginning when you say, should I address you Dr. Rife? No, even my, you know, little students yesterday, my very new student, like 2, 3 times I've seen, I've taught her. She's the sweetest little Chinese kid. I love her. And I already love her, although I've seen her like 4, maybe 4 times now. And I know that she's getting really, really like nice. I think she's gonna go far. She has incredible good hands and she's going far. And you know, she's now getting really used to me. She's like, you know, she was super shy at first. I'm like, would you like to sing, you know, those songs? And she's like, no, I'm not going to sing. I'm too shy. Right away. She's like yesterday, my word. I may soon think I'm kind of starting to get used to, and then when I would, I may not do it right away, may not do it in front of you, but I might have my mom record me and send it to you. But let me get there. And then at the end when I was going, uh, already leaving the place, and she said, hey, do you think I can call you Haiki? Hikee. She's saying, you know, getting comfortable. Yes, not Dr. Hikee. I mean, not Hikee, but I was like, you know, I think Hikee is fine. You know why? Because I think if you put yourself doctor or professor or whatever, then you're going back to that teach and teaching. Yes, my experience may be more and is more than yours, and which is why you're paying me the big bucks. But, but also you're paying me to share my experience and my knowledge, right? Not to establish this inferiority superiority dynamics, but say what I have is yours. I'm, I'm teaching you. That's, that's all I have. I have this and it's yours. And I think that's That's the sharing that we also give to our audiences. That's the sharing that I also give through my articles and my books. That's the sharing that I give through my job at AGBU, uh, you know, to, to my artists and, uh, to the audience that, that, that our artists are, um, you know, presenting. That's the job that we're giving to to the world, presenting, sharing Armenian culture. That's the job as a performer of Spanish music or any other kind of music. 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. It's the world that we are sharing together and enjoy together. That together that 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. 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, right?

Yes.

So the articles about Solère again?

Yeah, well, yes, Piano Journal is a It's a wonderful, actually, a magazine that is affiliated to the Piano Teachers— I don't know, what is it called? European Piano Teachers Association, EPTA. That is, I guess, headquartered in London, but has chapters all over the world. And I have been publishing for their articles a while already. I mean, their journal a while. Giving two articles already. One was Padre Antonio Soler and performance of his keyboard sonatas on the modern piano. The other one was Padre Antonio Soler and Don Gabriel de Bourbon, composers and their royal patrons. So sort of those articles are always like on the example of Soler, but also on those topics. So my two upcoming articles in Piano Pod with Yukimi Song are the dancing sonata, so the use of Spanish idioms in pre-classical sonata. And, uh, that will be in the fall issue. And in the spring issue of The Piano Pod will be the Spanish sonata. So there's use of the folklore and— oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, the dancing sonata was the use of dance forms in the sonata, in pre-classical sonata. So many, many dances were used, you know, like bolero and Many dances are used in the pre-classical sonata, like in partitas, right? But in a different form, obviously. So that's one article. The other article is the Spanish sonata. So, folklore, Spanish folklore, and the Spanish idiom. So those are the two articles that are coming up. And then as far as the most upcoming concerts are in October, I think. 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, the inaugural release of the festival on October 8th. Two days before that, I will be performing at the Lichitinsky Association's fundraiser at Tenryu Institute. I will be also presenting guest lectures at Manhattan School of Music. Piano Literature class on October 10th and 11th. So that October week is going to be, uh, intense. October 4th, I'm also presenting Armenian filmmakers in Fresno, in California.

Wow, lots of opportunities.

Then October 11th, I'm presenting Armenian, uh, artists at a gala, a beautiful gala in New York City, uh, at Pratt House for after my job, AGBU, at their 93rd annual gala.

So yeah, you have a lot of events coming up. So for our listeners, please go to solosworld.com to learn more about Hayk's scholarly work, and then haykarssinian.com to learn about his solo chamber concert updates and his teaching studio. And please check out Hayk's past performances on his YouTube channel at @haikarsenian6077. 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. It's called The Piano Pod with rapid-fire questions. I didn't explain this to you. I forgot. So this is part of the show where I get to ask fun questions to each guest. Here is a little twist. As silly as these questions may sound, your answers may reveal who you truly are. So ready or not. Let's start it, and then you don't have to explain. Just give me the shortest responses possible. All right, so what is your comfort food?

Comfort food?

Oh, ramen.

Oh, oh, just recently, but ramen, uh, miso ramen.

How do you like your coffee in the morning?

Black, always black and hot.

Cats or dogs?

Dogs, no, no question.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset. Summer or winter?

Summer.

What skill have you always wanted to learn but hadn't had a chance to?

Like a, like a, like a realistic skill, or like, for example, flying? I would love to fly.

Anything. Flying? Okay, that sounds great.

I would love to fly. It's impossible, but who knows?

What is your word or words to live by?

That's a difficult one. Maybe authenticity, the honesty.

What is the most important quality you look for in other people?

Honesty.

Name 3 people who inspire you, living or dead.

I will go with Bach, definitely. I will go with Hesse, Hermann Hesse, big time. And goodness, you know what, I will go like totally shallow, and— but right now that's what I feel. I will go Radiohead. He has inspired me so much, the band, no, and, and Thom Yorke, of course. Yes, big time, absolutely. And why am I saying shallow? Not even shallow, his music is super deep.

All right, yeah, yeah, yeah, great, good answer. Now name one piece in your current playlist?

Hmm, the whole Radiohead album is there right now.

Are you ready for the next one? The last question.

Why should I be scared?

We'll see. Fill in the blank: music is blank.

Life.

Life.

Great.

So that wraps up this episode of The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song with Haik. Thank you, Haik, for joining us today and then sharing your stories and insights and expertise. It was so fun. Your authenticity and joyous energy have truly inspired our conversation. You can learn more about Dr. Haik Arsenian and his amazing work through his website at solairesworld.com and, uh, haikarsenian.com. And you can watch his past presentations and performance on his YouTube channel. All the links are listed in the show Thank you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in today. If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review it on wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to hit the thumbs up button and subscribe to my YouTube channel if you're watching this episode on YouTube. Follow TPP on social media to get the latest piano news via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. I will see you the next— for the next episode of The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song with Yukimi Song with Yukimi Song. Bye everyone, and thank you. Hai.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, thank you so much. It was fun.

Super fun.