Performing at Carnegie Hall…Again
First-year P&S student Aidin Ashoori is an accomplished pianist who first showed an interest in music as a toddler and began studying piano at age 4. He has won local, state, and international piano competitions and will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the second time on Feb. 23, 2014, at 1:30 p.m., during an Alexander & Buono International Master Class Series Recital. He first played in Carnegie Hall in 2009, while an undergraduate at Rice University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and cell biology.
“The acoustics of the hall are impeccable,” says Mr. Ashoori. “The sound projection is astonishingly rich and crystal clear, not only to the audience but also to the people on stage. This makes it very enjoyable since there are minimal perceptional and interpretational discrepancies between listeners and performers. I am honored to perform at such a grand location, and it wouldn’t be possible without such wonderful support from faculty and students at P&S.”
At P&S Mr. Ashoori is an active performer in the P&S Club’s Musicians’ Guild. He practices regularly in the practice rooms at the Bard Hall dormitory, one of which houses a Steinway grand piano that is rumored to have once belonged to the legendary composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.
In his life, music, science, and medicine have been inseparable. He started scientific exploration of music as a high school student, which led to publications in peer-reviewed journals in music, neurology, and psychiatry. Two of his papers, “Mozart’s movements and behavior: a case of Tourette’s syndrome?” and “Movement Disorders in Musicians,” were written under the supervision of Baylor neurologist Joseph Jankovic. While at P&S, Mr. Ashoori has been studying the molecular and behavioral links of post-traumatic stress disorder under the supervision of Nobel laureate Eric Kandel. He also has investigated the electroneurophysiology of professional musicians in collaboration with David Eagleman, a New York Times bestselling author and Baylor neuroscientist, and Brian Eno, a musician and producer who has worked with numerous artists, including Coldplay, U2, and David Bowie.