We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Varand Toros-Adami. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Varand below.
Varand, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
The risks I had to take cannot be summed up in few sentences. However, the best way to provide you with a perspective of what they were like, at least for the first 22 years of my life, I must urge you to watch two movies, if you haven’t already. The Pianist, and Argo.
That Being said, here are few of the timelines of risks I had to endure so far to reach where I am, and of course there will be many more to come.
Risking my existence, principals, religion and my career, through no fault of mine nor my family, and by simply being born and stock in a nation, where not only not many people share the same values, but the entire government is against it, and you have almost no way out. That country was Iran. A government where western music and beliefs are not only unwelcome, but they are considered and preached as immoral, rotten, misleading, and downright derived from hell and mastered by the devil himself. That was the compacted story of the first 22 years of my life.
Finally after 2 years of filing applications, going threw numerous interviews, and waiting impatiently, my family and I were granted religious refugee status to come to The United States of America, where now I had to learn English, and restart my life from scratch. Not knowing what to expect, we entered the country, but low and behold, we received professional and warm welcome from both the government as well as most people we interacted with, which we all are eternally grateful for.
After receiving the masters in piano performance, I searched for job opportunities, mainly as a teacher at a community college or a university. Although I worked as one in two colleges, due to the notorious phantom, known as the red tape, I wasn’t able to truly offer them my help. The education system simply doesn’t have the capacity to handle my demands. Therefore I realized that the time had come for me to start my own school. However since the state of California is very well aware of the risks involved with starting a business from scratch, and it really and truly wants what’s best for its citizens, it deters people from doing so, and encourages people to always be a bridesmaid but never a bride, by making the possibilities only limited to those with very hefty bank accounts. So thanks to the state of California, it offered me to prove my worthiness once more by taking yet another risk and move to another state. In this case, Texas, where I knew absolutely no one. And it is here in the state of Texas, where I recently started taking my next risk, the opening of the first location for Adami Music Academy.
Apart from all that was mentioned, there is an ongoing and never ending risk that deters and in some cases wholly shatters and crushes many classical musicians, and that is concretizing. Specifically as a solo classical concert pianist, I have taken that risk many times so far, and I must say that the adrenaline rush is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The risk of making a mistake, or a memory slip is extremely high, and few such mistakes and soon you will be waving goodbye to your career as you wave goodbye to your audience. That is the most challenging risk that I have faced so far, and hopefully will be facing until the end of my life.
Varand, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born into a family of professional classical musicians. My mother was a concert pianist and music educator and my father was an opera singer. I believe that at age 5 I asked my mother if she could teach me piano, and ever since then I played nonstop. Graduating magna cum laude with a masters degree in piano performance, I was one of the handful of students who received the Pi Kappa Lambda award, an award that is given to those who not only excel in education, but they demonstrate characteristics of a leader. After graduating, I started to teach at two colleges, Glendale as well as Ventura Community Colleges. Ultimately I decided to open my own business, and that is how the Adami Music Academy was born.
Education combined with wisdom is the only salvation for mankind. That is our motto.
At Adami Music Academy, we believe that teaching is one of the most sacred professions on earth. It can enable humans to achieve incredible goals, from carving mountains, to paving the path of man-kind into the universe. To be more precise, the future of a nation relies on the quality of its education, and on the shoulders of its educators.
Our main focus in the realm of education, is the student. If the student is the seed, then the teacher is the nutrition the seed needs to grow. With that in mind, whether it is a private lesson, or a classroom field with students; we strive that every student grasps the knowledge they need to succeed both as individual performing artist, and as music educators, for the generations to come.
Adami Music Academy offers private music lessons in the student’s instrument of choice, in the academic/classical style, which will ultimately enable them to perform any given composition. Along with the private lessons, we offer group theory, solfeggio, harmony, and music history lessons, all of which are essential in the omnidirectional growth of the student in the realm of music in order to have a better understanding of the pieces they play.
All of our instructors, might I add, must possess at least a bachelors degree in a given instrument from an accredited 4 year university, and must share the same values of those outlined in our academy.
It is vital to mention, that all the tasks and goals mentioned above, is to serve the final goal; which is to find the meaning of the pieces the students study, and make the connection between the pieces, and the high morals that they need to obtain as an artist. Ultimately, this will make them a complete, and almost to the point of perfection humans, and able them to convey these important literature to their audience.
Guided by these high morals, they will be able to pass on their knowledge, beliefs, and wisdom to the next generations. And soon enough, we will have the society, that will be able to guide the world to the ultimate beauty and perfection.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I believe that the creative years of an artists starts from a very young age, therefore I am a strong proponent of a much better education system. Unfortunately the education system of The United States, starting from grade school until end of at least masters, is one directional and therefore not as strong as I prefer it to be. It is lacking lots of nutrients. I believe that it is extremely important to have as many classes dedicated to the enhancement of the creative side of the child as we do for the non creative sides. It is vital to develop a new curriculum that will incorporate other subjects besides math, science, physical education, or language. And I most certainly believe it must be done by a team of experts each in their respective fields, who not only master their craft but are also extremely capable at transferring that knowledge unto someone else, especially a child. Finally and most certainly all that was mentioned above must be overseen by a multi capable, triple threat or even quadruple threat manager that has a working understanding of at least 3 of those subjects and be able to link them all together.
I also believe that by developing such curriculum, and adhering to it, The United States will benefit immensity in the future, because it’ll produce extremely productive, multi capable, people. And by foreseeing what the future is going to bring us, I believe that this type of education will be our “ONLY” salvation as a society.
That Being said, one other thing a society can do, is for the parents to encourage the learning of the creative subjects of arts to their children. I must add that parents must not limit their children to only one creative subject, but as many as they can; making sure that the creative subjects they are exposing their children to, are the “HIGHLY REFINED ARTS”. Because after all not everything is art and not every art is a highly refined one.
Once all that I have mentioned above has been implemented accurately, after one or two generations, the societies support of the arts will be automatic. At that time, enough people will have already been educated in many fields of arts, and they have already gained first hand experience about the benefits of them. Therefore they will pass on their knowledge and support of the Highly Refined Arts, to the future generations. This way, we will have a self supportive society for arts.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Although I tried my best to push forward my career, my business, as well as the society, first in Iran then in California, due to numerous circumstances that were beyond my powers, I had to leave both places and eventually start my career almost from the scratch in Texas.
I did everything I could to enhance the education, as well as the business, and provide enlightenment to the public at any society I ever lived, as well as any organization I ever stepped foot into. I offered them the future, which they should’ve embraced, however unfortunately I realized that neither the small local schools nor the colleges have the same perception and appreciation as I do. Having said that, it was then that I decided to carve my own path, and despite strong oppositions from almost all my relatives and friends, I moved to Texas keeping in mind the famous quote of Ludwig van Beethoven, my personal hero, “I shall seize fate by the throat, it shall never wholly overcome me.”
I most certainly hope that Texas will be the fertile soil I need as a classical musician, a music educator, as well as an entrepreneur.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.adamimusicacademy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamimusicacademy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Adamimusicacademy
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbNEKbDjsndWdRxGI9ecAnw
- Other: Email: [email protected] Phone: (817) 808-7863