About us

Alisa Roberta Gukaisan (she/her) is a classical violinist and educator based in Southern California. She is currently pursuing an MM Violin Performance at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, with Professors Varty Manouelian and Movses Pogossian. She has been awarded the VEM fellowship.

In 2022 Ms.Gukasian graduated with honors from California State University Northridge (CSUN) with a BA in History and a BM in Orchestral Strings, where she studied with Dr.Lorenz Gamma. During her undergraduate studies at CSUN, Ms.Gukasian served as the Assistant Concertmaster of the CSUN Symphony Orchestra. She became the school’s first Whittsett Smithsonian Fellow, allowing her to live and work at the National Museum of American History (NMAH) in Washington, DC. There she centered her work around researching the museum’s violin collection and creating a mock exhibit plan, combining classical instrumental education and history. 

As part of her graduate studies at UCLA, Alisa is involved in researching ways of building healthy performance habits and learning to play without tension. She aims to educate and provide a safe creative environment for young students interested in learning the violin.

Ms.Gukasian began her violin studies in Moscow, Russia, at the age of 8. Following her move to the US at age 13, she was accepted into the Colburn School’s Community Program, where she studied music theory, orchestra, and chamber music until college.