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B i o g r a p h y

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Born into a musical family, Oshagan Merjanian’s own musical journey began at the age of three with piano lessons from his mother, followed by violin lessons from his father at the age of eight. At age ten he began his cello studies, which became his passion.

Oshagan completed his Bachelor's Degree in cello performance at Cal State University, Northridge under the tutelage of Dr. Diane Roscetti. During this time, Oshagan was awarded the CSUN Arts Council Scholarship for Extraordinary Achievement in Music, made the Dean's List three times, was selected to be the cellist for the competitive Samuel Goldberg Honors String Quartet, and sat first-chair in the cello section of the CSUN Symphony Orchestra.

After this he earned a Masters Degree in Cello Performance from UCLA, studying with Antonio Lysy. At UCLA, Oshagan was awarded the Gluck Foundation Scholarship as well as the coveted Mangasar M. Mangasarian Scholarship. He was also chosen to be a member of the UCLA Gluck Cello Quartet and was principal cello in the UCLA Opera Orchestra for the West Coast premier of Janice Hammer's, Lost Childhood.

Oshagan went on to complete the two-year Certificate in Music Performance program at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music on full scholarship. At the Moores School, he was cellist for the highly selective AURA Contemporary Ensemble - an innovative and professional-caliber ensemble dedicated to the performance of chamber music composed in the last two decades. 

In 2010, his teaching career began in his hometown of San Jose, California. He expanded his teaching to Southern California and Texas during his studies and through the years of the pandemic.  Now that he is localized back to Northern California, he has focused his teaching to students in the Silicon Valley.

Alongside his private Suzuki Studio in his San Jose home, Oshagan is one of the Cello Faculty at the Community School of Music and Art (CSMA) in Mountain View, California as well as the weekly Cello Coach for the Sunnyvale Youth Philharmonic's (SYP) cello section.  At CSMA Oshagan pioneered and continues to develop a Little Strings program which starts preschool students and their parents on learning cello using Suzuki teaching techniques.  At SYP Oshagan directs and coaches the SYP Cello Choir, which gives young cello students the chance to explore the joys of playing multi-part works in a large cello ensemble. 

Oshagan's drive to provide high-level musical training was birthed in the early years of his life through his own educational journey that began with his mother's piano teaching. 
 
Through Merjanian School of Music, Oshagan is committed to helping each student achieve their personal best. He cares about excellent music making and, even more so, is interested in the character developed by striving for musical excellence. Loved by his students everywhere for his caring, thorough and patient - yet persistent - approach which treats each student as an individual and helps them reach their full potential.​​ He believes every human, child and adult, has an inherent love for music and a musical voice that needs to be expressed. This is why he finds great fulfillment in helping students of all levels and ages realize their musical dreams through classical music lessons.
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