Tanya Gabrielian has been named the new Martin Endowed Professor in Piano in the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts.
She has an amazing story. Admitted to Harvard at age 16 to study biomedical engineering, Gabrielian instead pursued a career in music, completing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Royal Academy of Music in London, originally studying both piano and viola. She received the prize for best final recital in all six years of study. She then attended the Juilliard School of Music as the only candidate accepted for the prestigious Artist Diploma. At age 20, Gabrielian shot onto the international stage with back-to-back victories in the Scottish International Piano Competition and Aram Khachaturyan International Piano Competition.
Gabrielian has captivated audiences worldwide having performed on four continents and in venues including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Sydney Opera House, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Salle Cortot in Paris. She will undertake a 15-city tour of China this coming summer, followed by an 11-city tour for the release of her new CD Remix on MSR Classics, which was chosen as CD of the Week by Chicago WFMT, Boston WCRB, Los Angeles KUSC, and San Francisco KDFC.
In addition to her traditional concert stage work, Gabrielian collaborates with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in programs featuring composers with mental illnesses, highlighting the stigma around mental health issues. She founded an interactive performance series for patients at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Gabrielian will receive her doctorate from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in September and begin her responsibilities at IU South Bend on August 1.