Born into an Armenian-American family in Detroit, Michigan Kim Kashkashian rose to global stardom as one of the world’s leading classical musicians, considered by many to be the most gifted viola player anywhere, bar none. In 2013 she received a Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for her recording of “Kurtag and Ligeti: Music for Viola,” following several nominations in previous years and other prizes such as the 2001 Cannes Classical Award for a Premiere Recording by a Soloist with Orchestra.
 

Kim attended the renowned Interlochen Arts Academy and graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the New School of Music Philadelphia. As a child, Kim originally wanted to play the clarinet, but a new instrument proved too expensive for her family. She took up a violin that had been abandoned by another family member, and the world has been the richer for it ever since. Interestingly enough, while musicians often come from households where other members play an instrument, this was not the case for Kim. While she recalls both her aunt and father singing around the house and in church, Kim is in fact the first professional musician in her family. “You have to start somewhere,” she shrugs. 

Among many accolades, Kashkashian has won praise for her delicate and original renditions of Spanish and Argentinean popular songs, including Manuel De Falla’s “Asturiana” (ECM Records, 2006 with Robert Levin on piano) and for championing contemporary composers such as Arvo Pärt, Alfred Schnittke, György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Krzysztof Penderecki and Tigran Mansurian. In all, Kashkashian has recorded some 30 albums, many with ECM and other top labels.

As critic Tom Manoff writes for NPR: “The first thing that comes to mind when I hear her name is not ‘viola,’ but  ‘lyricism,’ that quality of music which is songlike and flows easily with emotion.” Indeed, Kim’s signature style has regularly accompanied many of the world’s major orchestras (Berlin, New York, Tokyo) and quartets (Guarnieri, Tokyo), and she has played alongside fellow luminaries such as YoYo Ma and Gidon Kremer. 

A regular at the world’s leading music festivals, Kim has also taught at the University of Indiana Bloomington and the conservatories in Freiburg and Berlin. Since 2000, she has been teaching viola and chamber music at New England Conservatory. 

Anastas Effendi, the hero

The Kashkashian family story echoes that of the many Armenians who survived the Genocide in part through the good deeds and willpower of neighbors who interceded on their behalf. Sometimes having an influential friend with government connections could spell the difference between life and death, between escaping to the West or being left behind to an often cruel fate.

Kim’s paternal grandparents came from Sungurlu in the Province of Çorum in the Ottoman Empire. Her paternal grandfather Dikran Hushhushian was well educated and rather well connected. He married Rakel Kurkjian (maiden name Aslanian), a girl from Gurun, and the couple had two children, Ardavast and Mary. Among Dikran’s acquaintances was an important Greek merchant, Anastas Effendi – a title of respect used in the Ottoman Empire. Only his name is remembered today, but he played a crucial role in the family’s ultimate survival. 

When the deportations began, Anastas Effendi managed to get the Hushhushians’ deportation date delayed. They were hidden in a barn on a farm for some months. Eventually, Anastas Effendi helped get Rakel and Mary out through some well-placed friends in the Turkish government. While Rakel’s husband was martyred in 1915-1916, Rakel and Mary were eventually able to smuggle Ardavast out of Yozgat by dressing him as a Muslim boy. Lost in those years were three of Rakel’s sisters. Eventually, Rakel and her two children arrived at Ellis Island and made their way to Boston, where they survived by doing beadwork and working at a clothing factory.

The maternal side of Kim’s family came from Gurun and made it to America before the Genocide. Her great-grandparents Khachadur and Hannah Kamian had a daughter, Mariam, and three sons, Manuel, Harry and Benjamin. There are records of Khachadur and Manuel arriving on the ship named St. Lawrence to Ellis Island in 1906. Manuel was sent back as a teenager to gather up the rest of the family. Mariam Kamian eventually married John Hekimian, and their daughter Pearl (Elmas) married Ardavast Kashkashian in 1947.

The two of them, together with Rakel and Mary, moved to Detroit, then a city of opportunity, where Ardavast and Pearl both became teachers and had their two children, Kim and Dikran Kashkashian.

Repaying with Music For Food

When Kim isn’t concertizing or teaching, she gives back to her community through Music Through Food (MFF), where she serves as artistic director. This innovative non-profit organization helps musicians fight hunger in their home communities by raising money to feed the hungry and has created over 200,000 meals through donations made at concerts on behalf of more than a dozen hunger-relief organizations. To date, over 100 international artists have performed in Music for Food concerts throughout the country. 

“MFF is a vehicle for musicians to create something concrete with their music and to create an atmosphere of civic responsibility among artists and audience alike,” says Kim. 

In New York, Boston, Cleveland, Cinncinatti, Los Angeles and Chicago audiences are encouraged to donate and told how many meals they have created with their donations. “This is a way of connecting to those in need,” Kim explains, noting that hunger is one of the great silent problems in America.

Similarly, Kashkashian is able to put her family’s experience during the terrible events of 1915 in perspective: “One might wish that certain things had gone another way…after all, my grandmother lost her husband. But she managed to save her children.” Pausing, she adds: “I have a lot to be thankful for.”

The story is verified by the 100 LIVES Research Team.