Biography

Aram Basmadjian is a concert organist whose performances have won acclaim from audiences and critics alike. With a repertoire that extends well beyond traditional organ works, his diverse programs make the “King of Instruments” at once virtuosic and approachable.

Early Musical Career

Basmadjian began piano studies in West Chester, Pennsylvania, at the age of seven with Marguerite Pond and made his first solo appearance approximately six months later. He subsequently studied at the Wilmington Music School in Wilmington, Delaware, as a scholarship student, studying piano with Benjamin Whitten and beginning organ studies with organist and composer Ray Urwin.

In 1983, Aram made his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra, performing Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor. The concert was conducted by William Smith at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia.

He later continued his piano studies with Findlay Cockrell at the State University of New York. After relocating to Utah, Basmadjian increasingly devoted his attention to the organ, studying with M. Lee Suitor at the University of Utah and later with James Drake at Utah State University. He also continued his piano studies with Lowell Farr at the University of Utah, Gary Amano at Utah State University, and Paul Pollei at Brigham Young University.

Basmadjian made his full-length organ recital debut at Temple Square in Salt Lake City in 1986. Seeking to broaden his approach to concert organ performance, he later worked with Ted Alan Worth, a protégé of legendary American organist Virgil Fox. Worth encouraged him to pursue a professional concert career.

As a pianist, Basmadjian also appeared with the Utah Symphony in 1988 under conductor Christopher Wilkins at Symphony Hall in Salt Lake City, now known as Abravanel Hall, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor.

Concert Career

Basmadjian began touring full time in 1992 and subsequently spent six years under the management of Community Concerts/Columbia Artists Management. At the height of his touring career, he performed in more than fifty cities annually.

His concert schedule took him throughout the United States as well as to Germany and Mexico. Contemporary newspaper coverage documented extensive national touring; a 1996 Los Angeles Times article, for example, described one of his appearances as part of a forty-city concert tour.

Because many of the communities on his itinerary did not have an organ suitable for a major recital, Basmadjian toured with his own four-manual Allen concert organ. The instrument’s console, electronics, and more than twenty-five speaker cabinets traveled from city to city in a full-length tractor-trailer, which Basmadjian drove himself.

Moving and installing the instrument could become nearly as challenging as the concerts themselves. For a March 1994 appearance at St. Mary’s Basilica in Phoenix, Arizona, conventional access to the church was impractical, requiring a crane to lift the organ console to the building.

The touring instrument allowed Basmadjian to bring large-scale organ literature to auditoriums, churches, and concert venues that otherwise could not have accommodated such programs.

His performances received coverage and reviews in newspapers throughout the country, including the Los Angeles Times, Long Beach Press-Telegram, North County Times, San Bernardino Sun, Sunday Patriot-News, Journal-Standard, South Idaho Press, The Dalles Chronicle, and other regional publications.

Reviewers frequently commented not only on Basmadjian’s technical command of the instrument but also on his programming and ability to communicate with audiences. His repertoire ranged from Bach and the major works of the French Romantic organ tradition to orchestral transcriptions and music intended to demonstrate the tonal and dynamic range of the organ.

Recordings and Broadcasts

Basmadjian made his first compact-disc recording in 1990 on the four-manual Allen organ at First Baptist Church in Pomona, California.

His performances subsequently received national radio exposure on Pipedreams, the long-running organ program produced by Minnesota Public Radio. His performance of Henri Mulet’s Tu es Petra appeared on the 1990 Pipedreams program “An Organist’s Yearbook,” and additional recordings have appeared on later broadcasts.

In 1995, Allen Organ Company released a recording featuring Basmadjian performing on the four-manual instrument he used during his touring years.

He later recorded on the monumental Wurlitzer theatre organ at the Sanfilippo residence in Barrington, Illinois. The resulting album, Wurlitzer Classics, presented classical organ repertoire on an instrument principally associated with the American theatre-organ tradition. Selections from the recording were also subsequently broadcast on Pipedreams.

Early Computing

Basmadjian developed an interest in computer programming during the formative years of personal computing.

In 1983, while still a teenager, he wrote a bulletin-board-system program in BASIC for the Commodore 64 called 64 Communications. The program was self-published and sold through an independently owned Software City franchise. The work dates from the earliest period of the Commodore 64 and the emerging home-computer bulletin-board era.

Aviation

Alongside his musical career, Basmadjian pursued a longstanding interest in aviation and ultimately made flying a second profession.

He joined SkyWest Airlines in 2000 and flew the Canadair Regional Jet, ultimately serving as a captain based at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. He remained with SkyWest until the end of 2006.

Following his airline career, he continued flying and instructing in general aviation. From 2016 through 2026, Basmadjian served as Chief Flight Instructor at Lehigh Carbon Community College, where he helped lead the college’s FAA-approved Part 141 professional pilot program.

During his tenure, the aviation program expanded its flight-training capabilities and established airline career-pathway relationships intended to move students efficiently from collegiate flight training into professional aviation.

In 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration appointed Basmadjian as a Designated Pilot Examiner. In that capacity, he conducts practical tests for pilot certificates and ratings on behalf of the FAA. He also serves as an FAA Safety Team Representative.

His aviation qualifications include an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and flight-instructor privileges for single-engine, multiengine, and instrument airplanes.

Allen Organ Company

Basmadjian joined Allen Organ Company in 2007, bringing to the company the perspective of a concert artist who had spent years performing on electronic and pipe organs throughout the United States.

His responsibilities at Allen have encompassed tonal design, custom organ specification and design, sales leadership, product development, and executive management. He has served as Tonal Director and Vice President of Sales and in 2026, after nearly twenty years with the company, Basmadjian was appointed President of Allen Organ Company.

His work at Allen represents a continuation of interests that date to his earliest years in both music and technology: combining musical judgment with electronics, software, product development, and organ design.

Church Music

Basmadjian has served in music leadership at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, since 2011. His work there includes service as Organist/Choirmaster where he performs on the church’s Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ, directs the parish’s choral program, and presents organ recitals as part of the church’s musical life.

A Career Across Several Fields

Although music, aviation, technology, and business might appear to represent very different careers, they have frequently overlapped throughout Basmadjian’s professional life.

In 1983 alone, he appeared as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra while also developing software for the recently introduced Commodore 64. He later spent years traveling the country as a concert organist, followed by service as an airline captain, leadership of a collegiate flight-training program, appointment as an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, and an increasingly senior role in the organ industry.

He continues to combine these interests today through his leadership of Allen Organ Company, his work as an FAA examiner and pilot, and continuing activity as an organist and church musician.