Merrill Hall, MU121
Education
- D.M.A. in Keyboard Collaborative Arts, University of Southern California
- M.M. in Collaborative Piano, University of Texas at Austin
- B.M. in Piano Performance, University of Utah
Biography
Aram Arakelyan is senior lecturer in music in collaborative piano at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and has been a member of the Chamber and Collaborative Music Department since its inception in fall 2016.
He has performed extensively with choirs and large ensembles and has worked with such renowned conductors as Carl St. Clair, Helmut Rilling, Barlow Bradford, and Jerry Junkin.
Arakelyan’s tenure with the University of Southern California Thornton Chamber Singers under the direction of Jo-Michael Scheibe yielded numerous performances of a wide range of standard and contemporary repertoire, both at home and abroad. Notable performances during this time were at the American Choral Directors Association National Conference in Salt Lake City, the 10th World Symposium on Choral Music in Seoul, South Korea, and the China International Chorus Festival in Beijing.
Among the various choral ensembles Arakelyan has also performed with are the Utah Chamber Artists and NOTUS, the IU Contemporary Vocal Ensemble.
A versatile musician, he has performed in variety of different genres and settings, including the American Contemporary Ballet, High Holy Days with the Congregation Kol Ami in Los Angeles, and a fun-filled “Wah-Hoo Revue!” at the Sun Valley Opera House in Idaho.
Arakelyan’s performance with tenor Hui Jin at the 2016 Prague Spring Festival was praised for “mature warmth of musicality . . . creating an enchanted atmosphere, with delicately shaded phrasing” (Orer magazine). He has also performed at the Festival International de Flauta Latino in Monterrey, Mexico, the Schubert Club Series in St. Paul, Minnesota, and many other venues.
He has partnered such artists as violist Patricia McCarty, hornist Dale Clevenger, flutists Marco Granados and Alberto Almarza, and tubists Sergio Carolino and Eugene Pokorny. Arakelyan regularly shares the stage with his esteemed colleagues at the Jacobs School.
Before moving to Bloomington, he held collaborative piano staff positions at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, California, and the Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, New York. He served as a member of the official collaborative staff at the 2014 Primrose International Viola Competition, as well as at the International Horn Symposium in Los Angeles in 2015 and in Kingsville, Texas, in 2022.
He has also been on faculty at the Indiana University Summer String Academy.
Arakelyan earned a B.M. in Piano Performance from The University of Utah, an M.M. in Collaborative Piano from The University of Texas at Austin, and a D.M.A. in Keyboard Collaborative Arts from the University of Southern California. He received his education under the mentorship of Susan Duehlmeier, Anne Epperson, Norman Krieger, and Alan L. Smith.
He has participated in numerous master classes with renowned artists and pedagogues, among them Martin Katz, Stephanie Blythe, Robert Spillman, and Jeffrey Kahane. Arakelyan has been a recipient of the Gwendolyn Koldofsky Fellowship in Keyboard Collaborative Arts, was a fellow at the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, and upon graduation from the University of Southern California, was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda honor society.
Arakelyan is a member of the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society and has been actively involved in presentations, performances, and facilitating numerous virtual events for its yearly CollabFest conferences.