Berj Zamkochian - Obituary

Berj Zamkochian

Berj Zamkochian was one of the most prominent American organists of the past half-century: he performed for six US presidents, the current Pope (on at least three occasions), the British Royal Family and the Imperial Family of Japan. He was a best-selling recording artist. And he was a passionately committed member of the Armenian diaspora.
The son of first-generation Armenian immigrants (his father had escaped from the Turkish genocide of 1915 by disguising himself as a woman), Zamkochian graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music and joined the staff of its organ faculty while he completed his graduate studies. When he was 24, he gave a debut recital in Symphony Hall, Boston, earning himself a review in The Boston Globe which placed him “well among the top organists of the day”. It was the beginning of a career of enthusiastic concertising.
In 1957 Charles Munch named Zamkochian, not yet 30, organist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Arthur Fiedler appointed him to the same position with the Boston Pops. His account of Saint-Saëns’ Third Symphony, with the BSO under Munch, is regarded as a classic, as is his performance of the Poulenc Organ Concerto: the RCA CD that re-released them together was hailed by The New York Times as “one of the 50 most important recordings of all time”. It is still a best-seller.
Appointed organist of the World Symphony Orchestra in 1971 (representing the BSO), Zamkochian played in the concerts that opened the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Disney World, Orlando, Florida, and the Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center in New York. He was no stranger to inaugural concerts, giving the dedicatory recitals on some of the most important new organs in North America. But the inauguration that must have meant the most to him was that of the organ of the Cathedral of the Holy Etchmiadzin in Armenia: the building contains remnants of the oldest Christian church in the world. Another superlative came in 1983, when he dedicated the world’s largest organ, in the Temple of the Shinji Schumei Kai in Shiga, Japan, before an audience of 40,000. He returned to play there in every subsequent year.
Other organs which enjoyed dedicatory recitals from Zamkochian included those in the twelfth-century Abbey Church of St Nicholas in Brauweiller and the Cathedrals in Altenberg and Ingolstadt. Another ceremonial concert which must have meant a good deal to him was that which inaugurated the organ of the Monastic Church of the Armenian Mekhitarists on the island of San Lazzaro in Venice – it has been paid for by the Gomidas Organ Fund (named after the Armenian priest-composer, Gomidas Zardabet, or Komitas Zardapet), which Zamkochian set up in 1970 to raise money to supply organs to Armenian churches throughout the world. He began by donating practice organs to the Gomidas Conservatory in Yerevan; by the time of his death he had paid for, or contributed to, organs in no fewer than 14 churches in Armenia, and, beside that in Venice, others in the United States, Switzerland and Lebanon as well.
Zamkochian’s early life was flecked with tragedy. On an early trip to Armenia, still then under Soviet rule, he learned his father had been his mother’s second husband; her first, the father of his elder sister, had been slaughtered by the Turks during the genocide and his head displayed on a pole – a discovery which shocked the sensitive Zamkochian. A more direct loss was sustained in childhood, when his mother was unable to rescue his twin brother from a house fire.
Zamkochian’s attachment to his ancestral land was profound, and he travelled there frequently, beginning in 1965, when he became the first American organist to visit the Soviet Union. His brushes with the customs authorities had their comic touches. On one trip, after he had been told he was going to have to pay import duty on his music, he demanded to see the guard’s superior and protested so vigorously that his guide had to restrain him to prevent arrest. On another occasion the customs officials in Moscow pulled apart $15,000 worth of flutes looking for contraband, not realising the value of instruments they were yanking open.
The earthquake which hit Armenia in 1988 killed no fewer than 72 members of his extended family and his efforts for the relief fund were tireless. His summer home at Cape Porpoise, Maine, was near that of George Bush, Sr., then newly elected President of the USA, at Kennebunkport, and the local church asked Zamkochian to play at the services where the President was in attendance. He agreed on condition that his fee went to the relief fund, for the purchase of wheelchairs. The request somehow filtered through to the President and resulted in a number of invitations to dinner.
His performances for Pope John-Paul II began with the Pontiff’s first visit to the United States, in 1987. The next took place under rather different circumstances. The Armenians were the first nation to adopt Christianity, in 301, and Zamkochian was scheduled to perform before the Armenian and Roman popes as part of the celebrations for this 1,700th anniversary, his date of departure 12 September 2001. He was grateful to British Airways for enabling him to get out of the USA despite the post-attack confusion and make his way to Armenia. Before his recital, in the Cathedral of the Holy Etchmiadzin, he had consulted a ex-student of his of Polish extraction and, when the weary Pope sat down near the organ console, Zamkochian began to play a Polish hymn. He was rewarded with a pontifical beam.
Armenia in turn recognised Zamkochian’s efforts with a series of distinctions. In 1980 he was the first non-native Armenian to be granted membership of the Armenian Academy of Arts and Sciences. Three years later the government bestowed on him the Bedros Atamian Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts. And in 1991 he was named a People’s Artist and Honorary Soloist of the Independent Republic of Armenia.
Zamkochian was a deeply religious man – part of his education had been undertaken in a seminary – who never wed; he was married to his music, he once explained to his niece. He would rise at 4 a.m. for prayers; after a light breakfast he would then practise until midday. He was also a gourmet cook, but even in the kitchen his prayer-book was never far away. His faith stood him in good stead when he discovered he had terminal cancer, and his theological learning was such that the priest whom he consulted confessed that he was following rather than leading.
The cancer first manifested itself as a painfully swollen left foot, initially diagnosed as gout before it metastasised through his body. On his last performance for the Pope, in Rome on 22 November last year, Zamkochian was hobbling to the organ console when the Pope asked him: “Will you be able to play?” He answered: “If you can talk, I can play”. The Pope then embraced him and kissed him on the cheek. The show went on, of course – but it was to be Zamkochian’s last concert.
MARTIN ANDERSON

Berj Zamkochian, organist, born Boston, Mass., 20 April 1929, died Boston, Mass., 23 February 2004.
This article first appeared in The Independent, London, [March, 2004]