Pianist Kariné Poghosyan makes history with 100 free weekly mini-concerts since pandemic

March 22, 2022 Guest Contributor Music 0

By Dale Kolarek

It is 7:50pm on a Friday night in the small NYC apartment of the Armenian-American concert pianist Kariné Poghosyan. The artist is about to play her 99th Facebook Live Mini Concert since Friday, March 20, 2020! The repertoire this week is Liszt Rhapsody Espagnole! The routine is like clockwork by now, since for 98 Fridays now, at about this time, she prepares her tripod and her old iPhone X, all the while putting on the special outfit of that week, doing her make-up, typing up the description box that will go on Facebook, and about five other little things.

And then, at 8 o’clock (or just a bit after) she sits at her old 1925 Boston Chickering, presses the “Start Live Video” on her phone, and it’s show time! One by one, her loyal followers start tuning in from all over the world, typing up warm hellos and heart emojis in the comments. She greets them warmly, spends about three to four minutes sharing fascinating insights on the program of the day, and then starts the performance. And just like for that brief period of 20 to 25 minutes, her listeners are transferred far away from the stressful news and daily challenges, coming together with fellow music-lovers they’ve never even met, to be inspired and reenergized! Then before you know it, it comes to a sweet end. The artist waves a few warm hellos and signs off until next week.

Except, this coming week will be her concluding 100th Facebook Live Mini Concert. After much deliberation during the holidays of 2021, as she was laying before her several massive new projects, Poghosyan made the decision to retire the series after the big no.100 on March 25!

Poghosyan understandably has bittersweet feelings about this beautiful chapter ending. Yet, she is also grateful for what performing these series brought into her life – the gift of connecting and experiencing glorious music together with so many people from all over the world. Their comments about the impact and positive change of these series on their lives proved how, as Beethoven once had said, “music can change the world.”

Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

Guest contributions to the Armenian Weekly are informative articles or press releases written and submitted by members of the community.

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