An Apt Musical, Creative Tribute to the Memory of Dr. Aram Chobanian
Armenian Mirror-Spectator
WATERTOWN — The late Dr. Aram Chobanian, a noted cardiologist, academician and modern-day renaissance man, received a worthy tribute on May 15 at a program organized by the Armenian American Medical Association (AAMA) of Boston at the Mosesian Center for the Arts. The program, titled the inaugural “Aram V. Chobanian Medicine and Humanities Program,” honored the lecture series’ namesake, by exploring the humanities and the arts and their role in medicine.
Chobanian was a part of the fabric of Boston University, serving in many positions until in 2022, thanks to the generosity of his childhood friend, Edward Avedisian, his name and that of his friend became part of the name of the medical school.
In addition, he was active in trying to bring American standards of medical education to Armenia, through his work with the Fund for Armenian Relief.
As dedicated to music as medicine, he encouraged medical students to partake of music and was a longtime member of the Friends of Armenian Culture Society which has helped organize the Armenian Night at Pops.
He died in 2023 at the age of 94.
Tribute to a Mentor
The program was opened by Dr. Armineh Mirzabegian, AAMA board advisor, and Dr. Hovig Chitilian, president of the AAMA Executive Committee.
Mirzabegian, AAMA’s Medicine and Humanities Committee Chair, paid tribute to the artistic nature of Chobanian, a co-founder of the AAMA, which had enriched his medical practice.
“Inspired by his insight and wisdom, we continue his legacy by renaming our lecture series at the intersection of arts and medicine in Dr. Chobanian’s honor,” Mirzabegian said. Chitilian spoke about the AAMA and its goals moving forward.
Next, Dr. Richard Babayan offered a brief introduction of Chobanian, and with a quivering voice, called him his mentor long before he became a colleague at Boston University.
In 1973, he said, Chobanian established the Cardiovascular Institute at BU, “the first of its kind, that connected hypertension and cardiovascular disease. His research and his work worldwide in hypertension is at the top rung of medical research,” he said.
Babayan noted that Chobanian had been named the dean of the Boston University school of Medicine in 1988, before being named in 2003 as the acting head of the entire university when it was experiencing a turbulent period.
Of course, later, he would leave an even bigger mark when the BU medical school would be renamed the Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine in 2022.
Bree Carriglio, the executive director of the Fund for Armenian Relief, an organization with which Chobanian had collaborated for directing help to Armenia, also spoke. She paid tribute to his legacy with FAR, which led to a “new generation of Armenian physicians” and massive improvements in the healthcare system of the country by helping to better train physicians there.
Music Teacher
Justin Casinghino, assistant professor of music at Fitchburg State and lecturer of composition and theory at Boston University, was in a different position than many in the program, as he was Chobanian’s teacher rather than student; he had taught Chobanian music composition for several years, starting when the latter was in his 80s.
When the late Chobanian had approached him for lessons, he had asked him to help him arrange an opera. However, Casinghino had refused, suggesting to him, “I’m not going to write arrangements for you, but I will teach you how to write your own music,” he said. “That’s when our relationship started to blossom, when I gave him that challenge. … We ended up working together for 12 years and I know that the study of music had a significant impact on his life. He told me regularly.”
“Aram wrote reasonably tonal music,” he said. “Trying something new at that age was exciting for him and was certainly inspiring for me.”
Chobanian was often composing pieces for his wife, Jasmine. When she passed away in 2014, he began delving more deeply into music, Casinghino said, to deal with the void. “It was a void that you only have when you have a Jasmine in your life. And I know it helped him because he would talk about it,” he said.
Chobanian wrote several operas and hired students from Boston University to sing them. Among the subjects he picked for operas were Isabella Stewart Gardner, Tom Jones and Enrico Caruso.
One of his compositions, for string quartet, was performed on May 15, with Haig Hovsepian on violin, June Chung on violin, Cara Pogossian on viola and Dilshod Narzillaev on cello.
Later in the program, the quartet, led by Hovsepian, performed several pieces from Komitas, with the visual accompaniment of Kevork Mourad, who painted traditional scenes while the musicians performed. The drawings were available for sale afterwards.
Music and the Brain
The keynote speaker for the evening was Tufts University psychology professor, Aniruddh Patel, who detailed the link between music and the brain. In a talk that was both accessible to a lay audience and inspiring, he showed examples of the power of music and the physical changes it makes to the brain.
Award to Tachdjian
Later in the program, Doctors Gail Guzelian and Armen Arslanian presented Dr. Raffi Tachdjian with the “Aram V. Chobanian Medicine and Humanities Award” for his work integrating music with the care of young cancer victims.
Tachdjian is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Tachdjian had founded the Children’s Music Fund in 2002 after as an intern, he met a young patient with bone cancer at Mass General Hospital. “That is the torch I carry to this day to continue to bring musical instruments and music therapy to any kid that needs it,” he said during a short video showing the work the foundation conducts with young patients.
Dr. Raffi Tachdjian (Ken Martin photo)
Music, he said, can relieve the anxiety anticipating procedures.
“Music makes all of life’s senses pop for me,” he said in the short film.
“Thirty years ago, almost to the month, I got to meet Dr. Chobanian at the Boston-based Armenian Medical World Congress in 1995,” he said when accepting his award. “He was an inspiring, humanistic visionary individual, but he was all about the collective,” he added. He thanked his many mentors in the audience.
“It’s just astounding that Dr. Chobanian, at his mature age, got to learn with you and you both learned from each other and made the world a better learning place,” he said.
“This award embodies the collective. In accepting this award, I say keep spreading music, keep spreading the humanity and in his honor, keep spreading Aram,” Tachdjian said
