Movses Pogossian

Movses Pogossian is an internationally recognized violinist, chamber musician, recording artist, and educator. Celebrated for his compelling artistry, collaborative initiatives, and imaginative programming, his career bridges the classical canon, contemporary music, and Armenian musical culture.

For twenty years, Pogossian was a violin professor at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where he served as Distinguished Professor toward the end of his tenure. During his time at UCLA, he also founded and directed the UCLA Armenian Music Program, the first comprehensive Armenian music program established at a major research university outside Armenia. Under his leadership, the program evolved into a nationally recognized platform for performance, scholarship, commissioning, recording, and cultural exchange. He is now Professor Emeritus at UCLA.

Following early international recognition as a laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition, Pogossian made his American debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops in 1990. The Boston Globe described the performance as “fiery, centered, and highly musical,” noting the freedom, taste, and discipline of his playing.

A central thread throughout Pogossian’s career has been his close engagement with contemporary composers. He has premiered more than one hundred works and collaborated with composers György Kurtág, Tigran Mansurian, Gabriela Lena Frank, Artur Avanesov, to name a few. Particularly significant has been his long artistic association with Kurtág, with whom he worked extensively in Budapest and at the Darmstadt Festival on Kafka Fragments and masterpieces by Bach and Bartók. Their collaboration culminated in the acclaimed recording of Kafka Fragments with soprano Tony Arnold. The project includes an unedited filmed performance, created at Kurtág’s request, and a documentary chronicling their work together in Budapest. Writing about the recording, Paul Griffiths observed: “…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.”

Throughout his career, Pogossian has maintained a deep commitment to the documentation, performance, and expansion of Armenian concert music. As performer, curator, producer, and commissioner, he conceived and realized the recording projects Modulation Necklace, Serenade with a Dandelion, and Stanzas in August, together comprising a nine-CD anthology devoted to Armenian music from the nineteenth century to the present, with two further volumes in preparation. Bringing together established masterworks, rediscovered repertoire, and dozens of newly commissioned compositions, the anthology has received widespread international critical acclaim. Writing in Fanfare Magazine, Dominic Hartley praised the undertaking for excelling “in every key area critical to our reception of this music: choice of composers; programming; performers; recording quality; and, crucially, documentation.”

Pogossian’s discography comprises more than fifteen recordings for ECM, Bridge Records, Naxos, and New Focus Recordings, spanning J. S. Bach, landmark twentieth- and twenty-first-century repertoire, and Armenian music. Stefan Wolpe’s Complete Works for Violin was named among the Sunday Times (UK) Top Ten Classical Recordings of 2015, while Pogossian’s recording of Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas was described by Gapplegate Classical as “a benchmark for how we hear the music today.”

As Founding Artistic Director, Pogossian established the artistic identity of the Los Angeles-based Dilijan Chamber Music Series during its first fifteen seasons, building an internationally respected series distinguished by the caliber of its guest artists, creative programming, and an enduring commitment to commissioning and presenting new music alongside the chamber music masterworks. A highly respected and thoughtful musician, Pogossian has performed internationally with many of the world’s most distinguished artists and leading chamber ensembles and orchestras. Pogossian is also co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Music for Food, the musician-led initiative that presents benefit performances in support of food relief.

Pogossian attended the Komitas Conservatory in Armenia and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow. His principal teachers were L. Zorian, V. Mokatsian, V. Klimov, and the legendary Louis Krasner.