Join us April 10: Facebook Live with the Pogossian Family
We are thrilled to invite you to another From the Top Daily Joy Facebook Live concert, this Friday, April 10, at 6 PM ET with the amazing Pogossian Family Quintet, featuring three FTT alums: Anoush, Cara, and Eddie, and their talented parents Varty and Movses.
About the Pogossian Family:
Varty Manouelian made her American debut in 1993 with the North Carolina Symphony as First Prize winner of the Bryan International Competition. She has also been a prizewinner at a number of other competitions, including the Kotzian International Competition in Czechoslovakia, Performers of Connecticut, and the Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poland. Manouelian has recorded and appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras in the United States, Bulgaria, Russia, Armenia, Poland, Spain, and Italy. Her chamber-music performances include participation at the Marlboro Music Festival, the El Paso Festival, and the Olympic Music Festival, among others. She has collaborated with Bruno Canino, Kim Kashkashian, Rohan de Saram, Garrick Ohlsson, Nobuko Imai, Thomas Adès, and members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, Tokyo, Brentano, Borromeo, and Mendelssohn string quartets. Manouelian spends her summers performing and teaching chamber music with her husband, violinist Movses Pogossian at the Apple Hill and Sebago festivals in New England. Since joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2004, Manouelian has frequently performed at the Los Angels Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Society and Green Umbrella new-music series, as well as at Camerata Pacifica and the Dilijan Series. Her recent Bridge Records CD of Complete Violin Works of Stefan Wolpe (jointly with Movses Pogossian) made the 2015 Top Ten list in Sunday Times (UK). Currently teaching at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and at the Colburn School, Varty Manouelian holds degrees from the State Music Academy in Bulgaria and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Boyan Letchev and Donald Weilerstein. Among Varty’s favorite activities are roasting coffee to perfection, and energetically hiking the Verdugo trails with her beloved dogs, Sophie and Mia.
Violinist Movses Pogossian is a Prizewinner of several competitions, including the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Competition, and has performed extensively as soloist and recitalist in Europe, Northern America, and Asia. He was one of the 2016/17 Artists in Residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and performed the Mansurian Concerto No. 2 at their season-opening concerts. Avid chamber musician, Pogossian has collaborated with such artists as Jeremy Denk, Kim Kashkashian, Alexei Lubimov, Rohan de Saram, and with members of the Tokyo, Kronos, and Brentano string quartets. He is Artistic Director of the acclaimed Dilijan Chamber Music Series, currently in its 14th season. Champion of new music, Pogossian has premiered over 70 works, and worked closely with such composers as Kurtág, Mansurian, Harbison, Saariaho, Chihara, among others. He was described by LA Times’ Mark Swed as “…a sophisticated virtuoso, subtle and bold in his phrasing.” Pogossian’s discography includes the recently released Complete Sonatas and Partitas by J. S. Bach, as well as solo violin CDs “Blooming Sounds”, “In Nomine”, “Inspired by Bach”, and Kurtág’s “Kafka Fragments”, with soprano Tony Arnold. In his Kurtág review, Paul Griffiths writes: “…remarkable is Pogossian’s contribution, which is always beautiful, across a great range of colors and gestures, and always seems on the edge of speaking—or beyond.” Since earning his advanced degrees from Yerevan and Moscow Conservatories, Mr. Pogossian has held teaching positions at Duquesne, Bowling Green, Wayne State, and SUNY Buffalo Universities. His principal teachers were L. Zorian, V. Mokatsian, V. Klimov, and legendary Louis Krasner. Movses Pogossian is currently Professor of Violin at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, as well as Founder and Director of the recently established UCLA Armenian Music Program. In his spare time, Movses likes to watch high-quality European soccer games, and is extremely knowledgeable and rather passionate about his favorite team, Barcelona.
Edvard Pogossian (cello) is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with Natasha Brofsky, and is currently Young Artist in Residence at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapelle in Belgium, studying with renowned cellist Gary Hoffman. As a winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, Edvard performed the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations at David Geffen Hall in New York and at the Harris Theater in Chicago with the Juilliard Orchestra under the direction of Itzhak Perlman. The Chicago Tribune praised Edvard’s performance for his “astonishing musical and technical maturity,” as well as his “winning lightness of touch to everything he played, combined with a velvety tone.” In the summer of 2016 he performed the Rococo Variations with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall on the annual “Armenian Night at the Pops” concert. He was also the winner of the inaugural Los Angeles Philharmonic Young Artists Competition, giving him the honor to play the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in Walt Disney Hall. Edvard’s other notable performances include appearances at Carnegie Hall, Zipper Hall, and on NPR’s From the Top radio show. He has also performed as a soloist with the New Mexico Philharmonic for their Protege Series. Edvard is a long time participant of the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival in New Hampshire, and has also attended Yellow Barn, Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall, and several other festivals. He has studied in Los Angeles with Paul Cohen and Rick Mooney, and later with Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Academy. Edvard represented the Juilliard School at various high profile occasions, including the recent performance for the First Lady of China, and was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship from the Juilliard School. Generally a peaceful and amiable person, Edvard nevertheless enjoys beating his sisters in card games and bananagrams.
21-year-old violist Cara Pogossian is currently a Junior at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she is pursuing her Bachelor of Music degree under the tutelage of Hsin-Yun Huang, and is a Co-Principal of the Curtis Orchestra. Previously, she studied with Paul Coletti at the Colburn Music Academy, and also with Che-Yen (Brian) Chen. As a member of the Aurielle String Quartet, she is a Bronze Medal winner of the 2017 Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition. Cara recently attended the Taos School of Music (NM), the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program (VT), and the Perlman Music Program (NY), where she studied with Kirsten Docter and Carol Rodland. Cara has also taken private lessons with Kim Kashkashian, Misha Amory, Roger Tapping, Carla Maria Rodrigues, and Roberto Diaz. She is a 1st Prize Winner of the ASTA California State Solo Competition, as well as a 3rd Prize Winner at the Occidental College String Competition. Cara was recently featured on NPR’s “From the Top” radio show, performing Brahms’ Viola Sonata with the host Christopher O’Riley. As a AGBU Scholarship recipient, she performed at several high-profile concerts on the East Coast, including Toronto and at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. Committed to musical outreach, Cara has frequently performed at schools, retirement centers, and hospitals in the greater Los Angeles area, and is also an organizer of several Music for Food performances at the Montrose (CA) Farmers Market, raising funds for local food banks.
17-year-old clarinetist Anoush Pogossian is a student at the Verdugo Academy, and studies with Michael Yoshimi at the Colburn School, and also with Michele Zukovsky. A 2019 U.S. Presidential Scholar in Art nominee, she has toured throughout the United States and Europe as a member of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra (NYO-USA) under Sir Antonio Pappano, performing as Principal Clarinet in Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie in halls including Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and Seiji Ozawa Hall, and attended the YellowBarn Young Artists Program. Previously Principal Clarinet of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Interlochen Arts Camp, Anoush participated in the National YoungArts Week 2018 as a 1st Level winner and Finalist, and was just named a Grand Prize winner of the 2020 Spotlight Competition (Los Angeles). She performed as Principal Clarinetist in the LA Opera’s production of “The Festival Play of Daniel” in the Cathedral of Lady of the Angels under the baton of Artistic Director James Conlon. She has annually attended the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival as a violinist and clarinetist since age 6. As a violinist, Anoush was the 1st Prize winner of the ASTA Regional competition, and a 2nd Prize winner of the Greater Los Angeles Section competition. Raised in a family of professional musicians, Anoush has performed with her parents and siblings in a variety of fundraising events for Music for Food, Dilijan Chamber Music Series, Lark Musical Society, and in Lou Harrison’s house in Joshua Tree, CA, at a commemoration concert for the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. In March 2019, Anoush was featured on NPR’s “From the Top” radio show in Boston, performing Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with violinist/host Leila Josefowicz. In her free time, Anoush loves to go biking, cook, and learn about psychology.
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