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NEW
YORK—Armenian-American pianist Kariné Poghosyan made her debut at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on
June 7 at 7:30 p.m. with a solo recital inspired by
New York City. Titled “The New York Connection,” the
program featured works by both native New
Yorkers as well as composers who visited and worked
in New York, including the virtuosic piano sonatas
by Samuel Barber, Béla Bartók and Sergei
Rachmaninoff; Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue;
and her own arrangement of the beautiful Lullaby
from Khachaturian’s “Gayaneh.”
“I have lived the past 15 years of my life in New
York, and my attachment to this city is so deep that
it’s not easy to describe in words. It is my home,
my biggest challenger, and my incessant source of
inspiration. No other city on the planet has the
level of energy and artistic creativity! It is no
wonder that almost every major composer in the
twentieth century at some point visited here, either
for a brief stay or for a long-term residence,”
Poghosyan said about the upcoming performance.
In response to Poghosyan’s passionate playing, a
critic once wrote: “If she had been born a few
decades earlier, perhaps the Armenian-American
pianist Kariné Poghosyan could have melted the Cold
War.” With such ardent devotion to her art, she has
been praised for her ability to “get to the heart of
the works she performs.”
Poghosyan made her orchestral debut at 14, playing
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and her solo
Carnegie Hall debut at 23. Since then, she has gone
on to win numerous awards and perform in some of the
world’s most prestigious concert halls. During the
2014-15 season, she made her debuts in Washington
D.C. and Toronto, Canada, where she performed the
Canadian premiere of Alan Hovhaness’s Piano
Concerto, “Lousadzak.” Other performance highlights
included solo recitals in the Myra Hess series in
Chicago, and in Ehbar Saal in Vienna, as well as
performing Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto with the
Greater Newburgh (NY) Symphony, under the baton of
Woomyung Choe.
Her most recent orchestral performances include
Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Sinfonia Toronto,
conducted by Maestro Nurhan Arman, and Grieg’s Piano
Concerto with the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by Maestro Phil Ventre. Both performances
received warm ovations and strong reviews. She was
also featured in WQXR’s “Chopin Marathon” concert
and live webcast, and was interviewed by David
Osenberg on his award-winning program on WWFM,
Cadenza.
Poghosyan is currently based in New York, where she
teaches at Manhattan School of Music.
The performance was presented by the Institute of
International Social Development, IISD.
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