Creating a haven of art in the homeland

Pianist Artur Papazian discusses repatriation, the artistic connection he shares with Maral, and the creation of beauty

by Nyree Abrahamian

Published: Monday December 01, 2008

Artur Papazian playing on his 1875 serpentine rosewood Steinway grand piano. Zaven Khachikian

Yerevan - Stepping into Artur and Maral Papazian's art salon, I felt like I was in a totally different world, far away from the noisy streets of Yerevan where I had been just moments ago, far away from anywhere. It was like entering an absolutely surreal new dimension, at the center of which lay an 1875 serpentine rosewood Steinway grand piano, where nothing existed but art.

Since 2005, when they first moved to Armenia from New York, the couple has been living in their central Yerevan home, which also serves as a concert hall/art salon. A world-renowned pianist with highly acclaimed performances and recordings at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall among his many accomplishments, Artur Papazian was born and raised in Armenia. He cannot be happier with their decision three years ago to repatriate. "We both had very successful careers there, but we felt that as Armenians, we needed to be here," he says. "Especially in my case, since I was born here, that was already kind of a spiritual and physical necessity for me, to live on this land."

Mr. Papazian's parents were born in Greece and his grandparents were exiled from Western Armenia. He feels grateful to destiny that he was born in Armenia. Deemed a child prodigy at a very young age, he left for Moscow during his 20s to further pursue his education and career as a musician, and at 29, he moved to the United States. Asked what fueled his and Maral's decision to move to Armenia, and whether or not he was worried that it would negatively affect his career, Papazian replies, "I think the main thing was us being Armenian and Armenia being an independent country now... Musicians can travel from Armenia, too. Before, the only thing lacking for me in Armenia was the freedom of travel - being able to go where you want, when you want, wherever you have been invited - and since that problem does not exist anymore for an artist, I am here."

Reaching a wider audience

Nowadays, Papazian's focus has shifted from giving performances in concert halls around the world to creating live video recordings from his very own concert hall. "After reaching a certain level in music and after doing things that were firsts even for American musical reality, I decided to concentrate more on video recordings," he says. After the live recording of his Carnegie Hall concert was broadcast several times on A&E and viewed by some 20 million people in the United States, Canada and Mexico, brought back as a PBS special and also shown via satellite in Europe, the dynamic pianist got the idea that through modern technology, he could attract a wider audience.

But isn't there still something special about the energy of performing to a live audience? "Perhaps," answers Papazian, "but these are live performance recordings. As you reach a certain level of mastery and precision, you want to pass that quality to the audience and it's very difficult to do while jumping from plane to plane, rehearsing a couple of hours on a new piano, in concert halls with different acoustics, and you always lose a certain quality. Now I have the possibility to have ‘quality' control with my own piano, especially with this kind of rare instrument... I am satisfied as an artist and more people can hear that utmost quality of my live recordings via TV broadcasting and now even computers."

Now, in the comfort of his own salon, with his treasured 1875 Steinway Grand, he can create, perform and record as he chooses. "The idea of having this house was to create our own artistic space, where we have full control of the artistic quality and to record concerts that I feel are important, when I am able to say something new with my interpretations," says Papazian. "Plus, as you can see," he continues, gesturing around the room with both hands, "there have been some new developments in our lives: Maral's paintings."

Genuine artistic unity

Maral Bedian Papazian is a geotechnical engineer and was at the top of her game in her specialized field of underground construction when the couple moved to Armenia. With no formal training, she started painting at the age of 40 and has not stopped since. In fact, her passion for painting has grown since they moved to Armenia. "It started out of the blue," recalls Mr. Papazian, of the time his wife surprised him by beginning to paint. "So we decided to have our own space where it would be possible to showcase these paintings and to organize and record my performances."

While her huge canvasses dominate every corner of the art salon and residence, Maral Papazian enjoys being "not the artist" of the pair. "Because I started to paint very late, even though by nature I'm a very artistic and romantic person, until now, I don't consider myself an artist," she says, though her husband strongly disagrees.

In any case, the combination of Artur's music and Maral's paintings give their home a unique and almost hauntingly powerful artistic energy. Mr. Papazian refers to this aspect of their relationship as "genuine artistic unity." I ask him if there's a danger in this unity, of completely merging and losing one's original artistic vision. "I don't think so," he replies. "I have become more individual, actually, after meeting Maral, and I would like to think that I helped open up her artistic abilities after our life together." So it seems in their artistic unity, husband and wife nurture and compliment each other's creativity. And their home is a reflection of that.

Originality without foregoing traditions

Both Artur Papazian and his reviewers often refer to his "distinctive artistic personality," but what, I ask, makes him so distinctive when he is playing the music of other composers? Isn't it more the distinctive personality of each composer and each piece coming through? "I think that it's the way I instill thought and emotion into it," answers the pianist, "and no matter how hard one can work to understand the composer, still, it's your own because a musical piece is a dead piece, just signs on paper, until you fill it with action, emotion, thought... It depends on how you read it. It's like an actor playing a role, I guess."