USC News
University of Southern California
May 15 2009
From Russia With Music
By Eddie North-Hager
May 15, 2009 3:24 PM
Photo: Angela Cholakyan
Photo/Dietmar Quistorf
A lifetime of dedication and perseverance finally paid off when Angela
Cholakyan earned her doctorate in musical arts from the USC Thornton
School of Music.
For Cholakyan, her destination had been mapped out ever since she
first experimented with a piano when she was 9 months old.
Yet for nearly two decades her dreams were deferred after escaping
communism in search of the American Dream.
Her course was no longer set.
`It was like being in the middle of an ocean,’ Cholakyan said.
Born in the Soviet Union, Cholakyan’s schooling focused on music from
the time she was 6. She continued her education at the famed Moscow
State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Yet even as she benefited from the
communist system, that very system also created insurmountable
roadblocks.
She couldn’t go far because of discrimination, as her parents were
born in Jerusalem. And the economy was in shambles. In 1988, after
bribing some officials to obtain visas, she left with her parents and
sister to reunite with her uncle in Los Angeles.
`I was ready to leave, but of course it was painful,’ said Cholakyan,
who was fresh out of school at the time. `There was no future. It was
like rats running from a sinking ship.’
Once in the United States, Cholakyan for a time put away her piano to
become a mom and work odd jobs to make ends meet.
`We were happy because for the first time in our lives, we could make
decisions on our own and survive on our own,’ Cholakyan said.
USC Thornton School of Music professor Norman Krieger discovered
Cholakyan in 1993 at the Florida International Competition. It took 10
years, but Krieger eventually inspired her to go back to school `and
get back on track,’ Cholakyan said.
`Better late then never,’ Cholakyan said matter of factly. `There are
so many people who helped me get to where I am.’
In addition to winning piano competitions and becoming a sought-after
instructor while at USC, Cholakyan also had her conducting debut in
November. In February, she was accepted into USC’s artist diploma
program, which emphasizes performance, and she should graduate in
2011.
`After 21 years in America, I can say with confidence that I love this
country and that I am American more than I am anything else,’
Cholakyan said. `However, there is another side to my identity: I am
Armenian born and raised in Russian culture, and I cannot erase or
forge that. I think the best I am playing so far is Russian
music. It’s in my blood.’
Read about other 2009 USC graduates, including father and son Michael
and David Gibson, chemistry student Eric Zuniga and four exceptional
graduates from USC College.