Sarkissian and Huber Recital
Written by Evan Whipple and Alice Song
On April 13, IAA faculty members Dr. Kara Huber and Ara Sarkissian presented a joint recital in Dendrinos Chapel. The program featured works by Clara Schumann, Leoš Janáček, Lili Boulanger, and Johannes Brahms and highlighted the range and evolution of Romantic and early 20th-century music through four distinct voices.
Ara Sarkissian, a classical violin instructor at IAA, earned both his bachelors and masters degrees from the New England Conservatory. He is currently a part of the Iris Collective, a flexible and collaborative non-profit chamber orchestra based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded by conductor Michael Stern, the ensemble is known for its innovative programming and community engagement. Sarkissian’s performance experience includes international recognition, having performed at the world-renowned Lucerne Festival in Switzerland under the baton of the late Pierre Boulez, a pioneer of 20th-century music.
Dr. Kara Huber is a classical piano instructor at IAA and also an alumna. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts, Piano and Conducting, from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Her dynamic career as a soloist and collaborator has taken her across North America, Europe, and Asia, earning her numerous prizes in international competitions and a Grammy Award nomination for her contributions to contemporary classical performance. Huber is also dedicated to championing new repertoire and highlighting underrepresented voices in classical music. Together, the two brought a powerful mix of sensitivity and energy to the performance.
The recital was originally conceived for an off-campus performance at the Alluvion in Traverse City, but quickly expanded.
“She offered me to play with her,” recalled Sarkissian. “And so we said, well, if we’re going to do it, we might as well do one here [at IAA] for you guys as well.” The pair also performed the program in Frankfort, Michigan.
Sarkissian also emphasized that the recital was a learning opportunity for students. “You guys need models of how to do recitals and how to perform and what does it look like, or what does it sound like,” Sarkissian explained. “Bringing that to you is an important part of being a teacher.”
Soph Stentz, a senior acting major at IAA, commented on the performance, saying, “It was really interesting. I don’t go to a lot of faculty performances, and so I really liked being able to see a more professional performance.” She also spoke on the student outcome: “I was impressed, there was a lot of support, with a strong teacher-student relationship….The teacher supports the student and vice versa.”
While the original concept may have hinted at a “candlelight” concert, the final program evolved into something more complex.
“Well, since it started as a candlelight concert, we were trying to find some pieces that would fit that sort of vibe. So, the joke all the way through is that everything was super romantic like a candlelight concert,” Huber noted. “But it didn’t really end up being that way, because I don’t think you would associate Janáček as very romantic. I mean, some parts of it were.” The result was a program that explored tenderness and turbulence. “There’s so much great repertoire for violin and piano,” she added. “It’s actually really hard to narrow it down.”
The evening opened with Clara Schumann’s Three Romances for Violin and Piano, composed in 1853. Although Schumann is often overshadowed by her husband Robert, her own compositions have gained renewed attention in recent years. Her Romances are lyrical, restrained, and introspective. Huber and Sarkissian approached the Romances as personal confessions, shaping phrases with a warmth that made the music feel newly spoken.
Next was Leoš Janáček’s Violin Sonata, a dramatic and volatile work written on the cusp of World War I. Known for his use of speech rhythms and sudden shifts in texture, Janáček’s style contrasts sharply with Schumann’s. The piece’s core, the shadowy “Ballada” movement, gave the performers room to explore restraint and release in equal measure. Sarkissian’s tone darted between rawness and elegance, capturing the unpredictability that defines Janáček’s musical language.
The duo then performed Lili Boulanger’s “Nocturne,” a short but emotionally complex piece written when the composer was just 18 years old. Boulanger was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, and her works often blend impressionistic harmony with expressive phrasing. In the “Nocturne,” Boulanger weaves together gentle dissonance and impressionistic shimmer, creating a piece that feels at once beautiful and disturbed. Huber and Sarkissian leaned into that tension, never letting the lyricism lapse into sentimentality.
Closing the program was Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, a large-scale work known for its intensity and dense structure; one that Huber requested to perform. The sonata’s four movements move from stormy to lyrical and back again, and Huber and Sarkissian leaned into its contrasts, ending the recital with clarity and force.
The program was ambitious, offering students a wide-ranging survey of how composers stretched the limits of expression within the violin and piano repertoire. From the elegance of Clara Schumann to the raw edges of Janáček, from Boulanger’s fragile lyricism to the muscular drama of Brahms, the recital kept the audience on the edge of their seats.
In a school where students are constantly performing, Huber and Sarkissian showed what it means to interpret with depth, to collaborate with nuance, and to build a program that tells a story across centuries.