The
devilishly
handsome
and
urbane
youth,
perched
on
a
piano
stool,
flicked
his
fingers,
gave
a
toss
of
his
head,
and
tapped
on
the
keys,
playfully
at
first,
teasing
a
legato
performance as a prelude to the appassionato indulgence that transfixed his audience.
The
young
Ohan
Dourian,
at
his
impromptu
concert,
in
the
"ballroom"
of
the
Jerusalem
Armenian
Benevolent
Union
("JABU"),
before
an
adoring bevy of classmates.
The
grand
piano,
neglected
for
so
long,
burst
into
renewed
vigor
under
his
titillating
fingers,
carrying
him
into
dizzying
rendition
of
a
Chopin
nocturne.
Years
later,
when
at
the
height
of
his
fame
as
composer
and
conductor,
in
Armenia
and
France,
he
would
recall
those
halcyon
days
with
a
mix
of
profound nostalgia.
He
was
born
in
the
Armenian
Quarter
of
the
Old
City
of
Jerusalem,
in
a
house
adjoining
the
playground
of
the
St
Tarkmanchatz
parochial
high
school.
And
he
received
his
initiation
into
the
art
and
mystery
of
music,
at
the
keyboard
of
a
grand
piano
that
occupied
pride
of
place
in
a
room
of
its
own.
A
scion
of
one
of
the
leading
kaghakatsi
clans
of
Jerusalem,
Ohan
grew
up
in
the
midst
of
an extended family that would include the renowned philosopher, Haig Khatchadourian.
(For
purely
practical
purposes,
Ohan
had
found
it
expedient
to
curtail
his
surname
to
Dourian.
The
world
famous
Armenian
composer,
Aram
Khatchadourian,
who
bears
the
same
surname, is not related to Ohan).