Musicians with a cause

UCLAʼs Armenian Music Program raises awareness about their culture, genocide

UCLA has always had a love for music.

“Music has always been a huge part of who I am since I was young,” said Sauder.

Between the sounds of turning pages and plucked strings, the VEM quartet played music reminiscent of early 1900’s Armenia.

A Thursday Concert was held this week with the VEM Quartet and soprano Danielle Bayne, performing traditional Armenian music in the Performing Arts Building at Pierce College.

The VEM Quartet consisting of Nicolette Kocsardy, Luke Kim, Stephanie Nagler and Nicole Sauder, represents the newly created Armenian Music Program at UCLA, which, thanks to a kind donor strives to raise awareness for Armenian music, as well as the Armenian Genocide. The four members of the Quartet strive to create an appreciation for Armenian music throughout the community through musical performances such as the Thursday Concert.

Nicole Sauder, a violinist in the quartet and a second year graduate student at

“You can work out your anger and emotions, it’s a unique opportunity to create something.”

Cellist Luke Kim, second year student at UCLA, took a moment in between songs to briefly explain the various ways he can play the cello to achieve different pitched sounds.

The pieces performed by the quartet varied from dramatic pieces such as ‘The Violet’, an song about a flower who the wind comes to take to the ocean, but the flower says it cannot come as it will wither and die if it is plucked and taken away from it’s homeland. To more comical pieces, like a song called “Dearly Beloved”, an Armenian folk song about a boy who sold his family’s goat to buy a lute to impress a lady friend.

When Danielle Bayn takes the stage, the spotlight flashes brightly on her as the room falls silent. The music plays, and her voice fills the room with song providing a haunting performance of a piece called