My Cousin, the Pianist
At 13, Araks played piano on television in Syria. At 14, she started to give 2 solo concerts a year.
I remember when we used to go to Starland to practice piano with my first cousin twice removed, Araks. I remember it felt really good when we got to a new level in the piano workbook. When we started taking lessons at her house, she always gave us delicious treats afterwards. I wanted to learn more about Araks, so I asked her questions and these are the answers I got.
Araks is an Armenian born in Istanbul, Turkey. She traveled a lot both as a kid and an adult. She has been to about 15 countries: Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Estonia, France and more. Her most memorable trip was to Jerusalem, this is what she said about it:
“Jerusalem was very memorable even though I was only 4, I remember everything. We went to the Armenian church and stayed in their visitor’s rooms. I visited the places where Jesus Christ walked and thought. There was a little hole in the wall we were not supposed to touch and I crawled and put my hands through it and touched the floor. My mom pulled me back. ‘Til today I congratulate myself that I did it. I touched a place where the Lord walked. Then we wrote our initials on a wall. My father wrote it. His name being Mousheg and mom Seta all our 3 initials would be MSA. And pronounced in French it would sound Mesea which in French also sounds like Messiah.”
I think it was a big experience for her to go to Jerusalem and touch the floor where Jesus walked. I have traveled a lot, but have yet to experience something so moving like that.
When traveling, Araks liked collecting spoons, thimbles, bells, and postcards as souvenirs. It started when someone brought her a spoon from a trip; she liked it and started collecting them herself. As a teenager she collected stamps for fun.
She got her first piano as a present from her parents for her 4th birthday. Her first recital was at age 4 where Araks was the youngest in a group of 5 to 18 year olds and played last in the intermediate group which meant that Araks was the best in the intermediate group. She was mentioned in the newspaper as a potential future pianist. Between the ages of 11 and 13, she performed piano concertos as a soloist accompanied by members of the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra where her father was an oboist. At 13, Araks played piano on television in Syria. At 14, she started to give 2 solo concerts a year. Each concert was an hour and a half.
Araks graduated from San Francisco Conservatory of music the same year as she graduated from the French high school Notre Dame de Sion giving her 2 high school diplomas. She came to the U.S. on a student visa to attend SF Conservatory of Music on an almost full scholarship given for merit only. To get the scholarship she had to send a recording of a complete concert program.
In 1981, she graduated with a bachelor’s and a master's degree in both piano and harpsichord performance. She was also the conservatory’s staff accompanist for other instrumentalists and singers during their concerts.
Starting in 1984, Araks started formally teaching at Starland School of Music in Alameda. They got her immigration papers and a green card. She has been teaching there since. Her first student was my aunt, Talin and a few neighbors and friends who lived close to the school so that after class she would go to their house to teach. She did that until she graduated. She was chosen as one of five in the U.S. to start a new Yamaha program for specially gifted students. Through the audition six of her students were chosen and after a week-long seminar in LA center they started the program.
She now teaches all levels of the Yamaha program—although she’s not a director anymore— as well as advanced piano, theory, harmony, ensemble, and composition. She is a member of the Music Teachers Association of California and the American College of Musicians.
Since she started playing piano, she has won numerous awards and has performed concerts around the world. Araks was inducted in the Piano Guild’s Hall of Fame in 1996.
My cousin is a dedicated piano teacher, Before doing this interview I didn’t know she had been to so many places or played the piano since she was four, so I'm glad I got to learn so much more about her.
