Байракдарян Изабэл

BAYRAKDARIAN ISABEL

Байракдарьян Изабель

Байракдарян Изабэл

http://www.bayrakdarian.com/news.html#

For Immediate Release September 5, 2002 ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN NAMED ARTIST OF THE YEAR BY CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY AUDIENCES Toronto, Ontario - Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is the Canadian Opera Company's 2001/02 Artist of the Year. The young Canadian-Armenian singer was selected by subscribers for her exceptional portrayal of Cleopatra in the COC's production of Handel's Julius Caesar in April 2002. This is the fifth consecutive year that approximately 3000 COC full-series subscribers have been offered a chance to vote on an artist who made the greatest impact on the Company during the season. Ms Bayrakdarian garnered rave reviews for her performance of Cleopatra. "Singing some of the opera's most beautiful music, her best moments were sensational." (Globe and Mail, April 8, 2002). The young Toronto soprano has enjoyed a spectacular rise and is now in demand internationally. Upcoming engagements for 2002/03 include appearances at the Metropolitan Opera and Santa Fe Opera. She also looks forward to making her Paris Opera debut. Artist of the Year nominees are chosen by a distinguished panel of judges who see all six mainstage operas and choose six to eight artists who made the most significant contribution to the artistic success of the main season (excluding the Ensemble Studio production). This year's panel included: Greg Gatenby, Artistic Director of the Harbourfront Reading Series; David Macfarlane, author and Globe and Mail columnist; and, Mrs. Robertson (Brenda) Davies. The list of nominees is sent to full-series subscribers who choose the winner. This year's nominees included: Alina Gurina (Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana); the COC Chorus; the Creative Team of Bluebeard's Castle/Erwartung (Robert Lepage - director, Michael Levine - set & costume designer, Robert Thomson - lighting designer); Gidon Saks (Boris in Boris Godunov); Daniel Taylor (Tolomeo in Julius Caesar). Past winners are: Russell Braun for Billy Budd (2000/01); the COC Orchestra (1999/00); the Design Team of The Golden Ass (1998/99); the COC Chorus for Turandot and Oedipus Rex with Symphony of Psalms (1997/98).

For more information, please contact: Nisha Lewis, Public Affairs Assistant, 416-306-2303, e-mail nishal@coc.ca The Canadian Opera Company

Isabel Bayrakdarian Manager: Elizabeth Crittenden Management Territory: Worldwide

Ahead of her years in both voice and musicianship, Isabel Bayrakdarian is gaining international prominence for her electrifying stage presence and captivating voice. Winner of numerous competitions, her most recent triumph is first prize in Placido Domingo's Operalia 2000 Competition. Future engagements include productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera Company, San Francisco Opera, and the San Diego Opera, as well as numerous recitals and appearances as soloist with orchestra. Ms. Bayrakdarian recently made her first recordings with CBC records. She's as fresh as rain. She has an exquisite lyric soprano voice imbued with warm clear amber, her musicality seems flawless and she's versatility itself. - Lloyd Dykk, Vancouver Sun, November 27, 2001

Isabel Bayrakdarian

The Gazette (Montreal, Canada) March 29, 2003 Saturday Final Edition

Soprano finds mass audience with Lord of the Rings: Isabel Bayrakdarian's Armenian hymns moved film's composer to call

by BILL RANKIN

Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian has held crowds spellbound in music halls all over the world, but she's never had an audience as big as the one that has been hearing her sing in Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers.

On the phone from Toronto, Bayrakdarian gleefully reminds the caller that the Two Towers soundtrack went on to win a Grammy.

Bayrakdarian says she got the Two Towers call after Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore heard some of her otherworldly Armenian hymns on her first CD, Joyous Light.

"The composer heard it and said, 'This is the voice I've been looking for,' " she says.

Both Evenstar - the song she sings on the Two Towers soundtrack - and her album's Armenian liturgical music reveal a singer who clearly loves the sound of the pure human voice.

Her repertoire includes opera - she's off to Brussels to sing Elisa in Mozart's Il Re Pastore - but it also features Rachmaninoff's Vocalese and Villa Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, both songs without words.

Bayrakdarian says she's after something very personal in her music.

"What I'm most interested in is beautiful singing, not bel canto repertoire, which is Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini.

"I'm interested in something that speaks to me. That's my main guideline to everything that I sing, whether it's opera, recital or concert."

But what grounds Bayrakdarian's life are her Armenian heritage and Christian tradition. Christos Hatzis's Light From the Cross, dedicated to Bayrakdarian and premiered Wednesday at a concert in Edmonton, is an orchestral treatment of Armenian hymns.

The religious significance is at the foreground for the soprano, who began her singing life in her Armenian church.

Isabel Bayrakdarian will be at Place des Arts on May 7, joining Yuli Turovsky and I Musici de Montreal in a concert of Spanish-flavoured music.

Edmonton Journal

GRAPHIC: Color Photo: CP; Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian: Two Towers soundtrack won a Grammy.

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Opera magazine to present awards to Domingo, Crespin, Graham and others

AP Worldstream; Nov 19, 2005 VERENA DOBNIK

The first Opera News magazine awards are to be presented Sunday, with honors going to Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, French soprano Regine Crespin and three Americans_ mezzo-sopranos Susan Graham and Dolora Zajick, and conductor James Conlon.

The host of the ceremony is "Law & Order" actor Sam Waterston. "For an opera idiot like myself, the first impression is that it expresses the size of the feelings in people's hearts," Waterson said. "That can't be adequately done, except for these big guns of voices and a vast orchestra. When it comes to feelings, opera is a direct whammy."

Co-costing the evening _ a fundraiser to benefit music education _ is rising star Isabel Bayrakdarian, a Canadian soprano of Armenian descent.

Already at the peak is Graham, who won a Grammy earlier this year for an album of American songs by composer Charles Ives and starred in the opera "Dead Man Walking," playing Sister Helen Prejean.

She is the musical darling of Paris, with perfect French diction, but the 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter-tall) singer who loves tooling around on roller blades is proud of her down-to-earth American image. The 45-year-old never saw an opera until she was 18.

Next week, Graham has a lead role in "An American Tragedy," a new opera by New York composer Tobias Picker that premieres at the Metropolitan Opera.

Based on Theodore Dreiser's novel about a social-climbing man who murders his pregnant girlfriend, "it could be the story of Scott Peterson," says Graham. "It's a really American story _ of a man trying to make it, to succeed, who loses his values along the way."

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TORONTO: SOPRANO BAYRAKDARIAN TENDS TO HER ROOTS John Terauds CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC

Toronto Star, Canada Jan 17 2006

Still makes time for local performances

It is such a pleasure seeing a young, talented artist from your hometown make a convincing leap into the international spotlight.

It's an even greater pleasure to have that artist return home to share her talents with an appreciative public.

Such is the case with 31-year-old Toronto-based soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian.

Poised to make her debut at London's Covent Garden in June, and already a veteran of the Metropolitan Opera stage in New York, Bayrakdarian has been generous at home with her time and talents in recent months.

Last fall, she gave a benefit performance to help refurbish the organ at University of Toronto's Convocation Hall. Last month, she sang a demanding program of Rossini opera arias and duets with contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux at the CBC's Glenn Gould Studio.

And she is even busier locally this month. She has dates with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's Mozart @ 250 Festival tomorrow and Thursday, the premiere of a documentary about her, A Long Journey Home on CBC Television's Opening Night (also being shown on Thursday), and a big Opera Ontario-sponsored engagement Sunday afternoon with baritone Russell Braun at the Hamilton Place Theatre in Hamilton.

The Hamilton show is a repeat of the program Bayrakdarian and Braun presented this past Sunday afternoon at Kitchener's Centre in the Square.

A two-hour collection of songs and opera arias accompanied by their spouses - Serouj Kradjian and Carolyn Maule, both professionals with thriving piano careers - the Kitchener performance was an unalloyed treat. The repeat date at Hamilton Place on Sunday should be worth the trek.

Braun, who is enjoying a flourishing international career, is an opera natural. His rich, flexible baritone voice and natural stage presence were at their best in Kitchener, especially in a selection of Mozart and Rossini arias and duets.

Bayrakdarian is equally at home with this overtly dramatic material.

She also brings an affecting immediacy to the art-song repertoire.

The Sunday program included rarely heard treats by Robert Schumann's wife Clara and by Armenian composer Gomidas (also known as Komitas).

It is hard to believe that it's only been nine years since Bayrakdarian entered the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions while in her final year as a biomedical engineering student at University of Toronto.

In 2000, she won Spanish tenor Placido Domingo's prestigious international Operalia competition. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut two years later, and reached across to new audiences with her recording of "Evenstar" for the second instalment of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

She continues to make great progress as both an opera and solo recital singer. As Sunday's performance showed, her voice is blooming in both volume and gracefulness.

Born in Lebanon and based in the Toronto area since she was 14, Bayrakdarian makes a special point of her Armenian roots. Her first album, Joyous Light, from 2002, was of Armenian sacred music.

She has just finished recording a disc of Armenian folk songs, of which we get an early taste on TV in A Long Journey Home on Thursday night. This hour-long film follows Bayrakdarian as she makes her first visit to her ancestral land, visiting the Armenian capital of Yerevan and the memorial to people slain in a massacre by Turks in 1915. Best of all, she spends much of her time on screen singing.

With Armenia's rich history, scenery and 1,700-year-old churches as backdrops, Bayrakdarian dips into the gorgeous, varied folk material compiled by Gomitas in the early 20th century. Kradjian, her creative partner and husband, has provided the musical arrangements.

The DVD of the movie, which should be in stores soon, also contains nine bonus tracks as a special feature. Her rendition of "Song to the Moon" from Antonin Dvorak's opera Rusalka, accompanied by full orchestra in Yerevan, is particularly moving.

Unlike many divas, Bayrakdarian always puts the music first, helping it speak clearly and affectingly. Let's hope that is one thing about her that will never change.

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STARS WOW ENTHRALLED FANS by Leonard Turnevicius, The Hamilton Spectator

The Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada) January 24, 2006 Tuesday Final Edition

Book them and they will come. Big names equal big crowd.

Opera Hamilton's inaugural Great Singers Recital Series got off to a great start with a great turnout at Hamilton Place on Sunday afternoon to hear two big names in opera, both proud Canadians: soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and baritone Russell Braun, each accompanied by their respective spouse at the piano, Serouj Kradjian and Carolyn Maule.

The first half was devoted to art songs, but things began on a soft and mildly timorous start in Robert Schumann's duet, Er und Sie. I'm sure Bayrakdarian would like to take back her first couple of notes.

Likewise, Schumann's So wahr die Sonne scheinet didn't feel totally "internalized" as both singers read off music placed on a stand in front of them.

The rest of the program, sung from memory, had each singer appearing in alternation. During three songs by Clara Schumann, Bayrakdarian's German wasn't quite echt on the words zieht, neu and reizendes. Yet, Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen was an emotionally charged number.

The Lebanese-born Bayrakdarian hit her stride in four Armenian songs by Komitas, music sung straight from her soul. In Ervoom em/Shogher Jan (I'm Burning With Love/Dear Shogher), Bayrakdarian's swaying head and gently swivelling hips told more of the story than could be found in the program booklet's translations.

Similarly, the German-born Braun has German art songs coursing through his veins. His diction was superb in three songs from Schumann's Liederkreis op. 39, though he took two oddly placed snatch breaths in Mondnacht. However, Braun's French wasn't as crystal clear early on in Ravel's Don Quichotte a Dulcinee.

Rounding out the first half, Maule and Kradjian presented the piano four-hands Prelude, and Intermezzo Nationaltanz from Schumann's Spanische Liebes-Lieder.

The program heated up with operatic arias and duets from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, and Don Giovanni, as well as Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Braun's voice was hardy in Vedr? mentr'io sospiro.

Bayrakdarian countered with a lovely rendition of Canadian composer Derek Holman's clever elaboration on Giunse alfin il momento/Deh vieni, non tardar.

With arias such as Deh vieni alla finestra, and Finch' han dal vino, Braun gave us a tantalizing taste of the Don Giovanni that Opera Hamilton fans were to have heard in February. (That production is now slated for the fall, but without Braun.) There was a cute ending to La ci darem la mano, where Maule broke up the hanky-panky between Giovanni (Braun) and Zerlina (Bayrakdarian) with a forcefully played cadence.

Braun began Figaro's Largo al factotum from the wings, glad-handing as he ran past the front row before bounding onto the stage. The entire aria was a tour de force that received a rousing response from the audience. Not to be outdone, Bayrakdarian's rendition of Una voce poco fa, sung with a lighter voice, had lots of vocal fireworks.

Bayrakdarian's florid ways showed with Rossini's original melodic line in the duet Dunque io son. The audience rose to its feet.

Each pair gave an encore: Bayrakdarian and Kradjian with Rossini's delightful Canzonetta Spagnuola; Braun and Maule an old-time Canadian parlour song, once a Caruso favourite, Geoffrey O'Hara's Your Eyes Have Told Me What I Did Not Know. I don't know how Opera Hamilton' s general director David Speers is going to top this recital next season.

Leonard Turnevicius is a music educator and organist.

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November - December 2002 Catherine in "A View From the Bridge", Metropolitan Opera, New York. Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor.

October 2002 Recital, Berkeley, California. Martin Katz, Pianist

October 2002 "Light From the Cross", Alice Tully Hall. Mario Bernardi, Conductor.

October 2002 CBC GALA Anniversary Concert, Montreal.

October 2002 Concert Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, with Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, New York. Mario Bernardi, Conductor.

August - September 2002 Susanna in "Le Nozze Di Figaro", Paris Opera/Bastille.

July - August 2002 Servilia in Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito" with the Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe. Kenneth Montgomery, Conductor.

May 2002 Mahler, Symphony No. 4, Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh. Mariss Jansons, Conductor.

May 2002 Recital George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts, Toronto. Accompanist: Martin Katz.

April 2002 Cleopatra in Handel's "Giulio Cesare", with the Canadian Opera Company, Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto.

March 2002 Montr?al en voix: Montreal High Lights Festival. A celebration of the wealth of Montr?al's and Canada's vocal history. (Televised by CBC)

January 2002 Valencienne in Lehar's "Merry Widow" with the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco, with Frederica von Stade.

December 2001 "Messiah" by G.F. Handel, with Les Violons du Roy, Bernard Labadie, Artistic Director. Quebec City.

December 2001 Recital. Weill Recital Hall, New York. Accompanist: Martin Katz.

December 2001 "Messiah" (See above) United Church, Port Hope, Ontario.

December 2001 "Messiah" (See above) Massey Hall, Toronto.

December 2001 "Messiah" (See above) Salle Claude-Champagne, l'Universit? de Montr?al, Montreal.

November 2001 Recital. Jordan Hall, Boston. FleetBoston Celebrity Series. Accompanist: Martin Katz.

November 2001 Recital. Chan Centre Concert Hall, Vancouver. Accompanist: Martin Katz.

November 2001 Euridice in Gluck's "Orfeo" with the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Other soloists: Ewa Podles as Orpheo, Lisa Saffer as Amore. Orchestra conducted by Martin Katz.

October 2001 Adina in Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore", Hamilton & Kitchener-Waterloo, with Opera Ontario.

September 2001 A Gala Evening with Yo-Yo Ma and Pinchas Zukerman, National Arts Centre, Ottawa. Yo-Yo Ma was one of eight cellists accompanying Isabel Bayrakdarian in "Cantile?a" from Villa Lobos' "Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5". Isabel also performed "L'amer? sar? costante" from Mozart's "Il re pastore" with Pinchas Zukerman on violin.

September 2001 Armenian Sacred Music Concert on the occasion of the 1700th Anniversary of Armenian Christianity, with orchestra; Raffi Armenian, conductor. George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto, Ontario.

USA

Operas:

2005 LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Metropolitan Opera James Levine, conductor Gala Opening of the Season

2005 (Susanna) LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Houston Grand Opera

2006 ORFEO ED EURIDICE Lyric Opera of Chicago Harry Bicket, conductor

Recitals:

2005 - Duluth, Minnesota Pianist, Serouj Kradjian

2006 - Wake Forest University, North Carolina Pianist, Serouj Kradjian

Concerts:

2006 - MAHLER 4th SYMPHONY Chicago Symphony David Zinman, conductor

Canada

Concerts:

2005 - Benefit CONCERT University Of Toronto Convocation Hall

2005 - Christmas Concert Ottawa - Cathedral Arts Society

2006 - ALL-MOZART CONCERT Toronto Symphony Orchestra Peter Oundjian, conductor

2006 - ALL-MOZART CONCERT Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Bramwell Tovey, conductor

2006 - MAHLER 4th SYMPHONY Montreal Symphony James Conlon, conductor

2006 - ST MATTHEW PASSION Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir

Recitals:

2006 - Centre In The Square with Russell Braun Pianists, Serouj Kradjian and Carolyn Maule

2006 - Hamilton Place with Russell Braun Pianists, Serouj Kradjian and Carolyn Maule

Europe/South America

Concerts:

2005 - DON GIOVANNI Salzburg Festival Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor

2006 - LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (Susanna) Covent Garden, Royal Opera House Sir Colin Davis, conductor

http://www.bayrakdarian.com/biography.html

"Instinctively dramatic and expressive, she is able to inhabit whatever music she sings..." - Urjo Kareda, Globe and Mail

 "Isabel Bayrakdarian's Изабэл Байракдарян is a voice the world seems 

destined to know well. … Through a combination of vocal gifts, musical and dramatic intelligence, she has become a prototype of the 21st century opera star." - Toronto Star "The bright-voiced soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, in her Met debut, was a blooming Catherine." - Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, who burst onto the international opera scene after winning first prize in the 2000 Operalia competition, has performed in virtually all the world's major opera houses. The young Armenian-Canadian is admired as much for her stunning stage presence as for her uncommon musicality, and has followed a career path entirely her own. Her signature roles - Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Marzelline in Fidelio, Adina in L'elisir d'amore and Rosina in The Barber of Seville - are only part of the repertoire of her rocketing career. Ms. Bayrakdarian is also a first-rank Handelian, known for such heroines as Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Romilda (Xerxes), and Emilia (Flavio), and is becoming an expert on the music of Armenia's iconic composer, Gomidas (1869-1935).

Miss Bayrakdarian has been applauded for opera performances in Salzburg, Paris, New York, Chicago, Dresden, Milan, San Francisco, Toronto and elsewhere, and is renowned as well for her work in remoter corners of the repertory, such as Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini and Bolcom's A View from the Bridge, in which she made her Metropolitan Opera debut.

Highlights of Miss Bayrakdarian's 2005-2006 season include the Metropolitan Opera's opening night gala, in which she sings Susanna to Bryn Terfel's Figaro in Act I of Le Nozze di Figaro; singing Eurydice to David Daniels's Orpheus in Orfeo at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Le Nozze di Figaro at the Houston Grand Opera; and her debut at the Royal Opera House in London, also in Figaro. Her orchestral appearances include debuts with the Chicago and Montreal Symphonies - both in the Mahler Fourth Symphony, with conductors David Zinman and James Conlon respectively. She will participate in the 2006 Salzburg Festival's presentation of all of Mozart's operas, singing Zerlina in Don Giovanni, conducted by Daniel Harding.

Miss Bayrakdarian, accompanied by her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, has also triumphed in recital in New York's Carnegie Hall and on stages in Atlanta, Berkeley, Boston, Edmonton, Ottawa, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere. She has concertized with orchestras in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and at home in Canada with Tafelmusik, Les Violons du Roy, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and with every major Canadian orchestra.

Isabel Bayrakdarian sings on the Grammy® Award-winning soundtrack of the blockbuster film The Lord of The Rings:The Two Towers, as well as in the multiple award-winning Canadian film Ararat. Ms. Bayrakdarian's newest recording is a widely-praised collection of songs by singer/composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia. On Azul?o she sings songs by Spanish composers and on Cleopatra she portrays the Egyptian queen in arias from several Baroque operas. Her first CD, Joyous Light, a disc of Armenian songs, caught the attention of composer Howard Shore, who invited her to sing on his soundtrack for the Lord of the Rings film mentioned above. She also recorded Mahler's Second Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.

Isabel Bayrakdarian has received many grants and other awards in addition to the first prize in the Operalia competition run by Pl?cido Domingo: Canada's Juno award, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, a Canada Council Grant, the 2005 Virginia Parker Prize, the Leonie Rysanek Award from the George London Foundation, and a Metropolitan Opera National Council Award in 1997.

Miss Bayrakdarian, born in Lebanon, of proud Armenian heritage, and a loyal citizen of Canada, moved with her family to Canada as a teenager. Her earliest singing experience was at church, which remains, along with her family, the central focus of her life. She is the subject of a CBC-TV film entitled A Long Journey Home that documents her emotional and musical first trip to Armenia, where she recently recorded a disc of works by Gomidas. She holds an honors degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Toronto.

"Instinctively dramatic and expressive, she is able to inhabit whatever music she sings..." - Urjo Kareda, Globe and Mail

 "Isabel Bayrakdarian's Изабэл Байракдарян is a voice the world seems 

destined to know well. … Through a combination of vocal gifts, musical and dramatic intelligence, she has become a prototype of the 21st century opera star." - Toronto Star "The bright-voiced soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, in her Met debut, was a blooming Catherine." - Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, who burst onto the international opera scene after winning first prize in the 2000 Operalia competition, has performed in virtually all the world's major opera houses. The young Armenian-Canadian is admired as much for her stunning stage presence as for her uncommon musicality, and has followed a career path entirely her own. Her signature roles – Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Marzelline in Fidelio, Adina in L'elisir d'amore and Rosina in The Barber of Seville – are only part of the repertoire of her rocketing career. Ms. Bayrakdarian is also a first-rank Handelian, known for such heroines as Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Romilda (Xerxes), and Emilia (Flavio), and is becoming an expert on the music of Armenia's iconic composer, Gomidas (1869-1935).

Miss Bayrakdarian has been applauded for opera performances in Salzburg, Paris, New York, Chicago, Dresden, Milan, San Francisco, Toronto and elsewhere, and is renowned as well for her work in remoter corners of the repertory, such as Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini and Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, in which she made her Metropolitan Opera debut.

Highlights of Miss Bayrakdarian’s 2005-2006 season include the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night gala, in which she sings Susanna to Bryn Terfel's Figaro in Act I of Le Nozze di Figaro; singing Eurydice to David Daniels's Orpheus in Orfeo at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Le Nozze di Figaro at the Houston Grand Opera; and her debut at the Royal Opera House in London, also in Figaro. Her orchestral appearances include debuts with the Chicago and Montreal Symphonies – both in the Mahler Fourth Symphony, with conductors David Zinman and James Conlon respectively. She will participate in the 2006 Salzburg Festival's presentation of all of Mozart's operas, singing Zerlina in Don Giovanni, conducted by Daniel Harding.

Miss Bayrakdarian, accompanied by her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, has also triumphed in recital in New York’s Carnegie Hall and on stages in Atlanta, Berkeley, Boston, Edmonton, Ottawa, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere. She has concertized with orchestras in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and at home in Canada with Tafelmusik, Les Violons du Roy, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and with every major Canadian orchestra.

Isabel Bayrakdarian sings on the Grammy® Award-winning soundtrack of the blockbuster film The Lord of The Rings:The Two Towers, as well as in the multiple award-winning Canadian film Ararat. Ms. Bayrakdarian’s newest recording is a widely-praised collection of songs by singer/composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia. On Azulão she sings songs by Spanish composers and on Cleopatra she portrays the Egyptian queen in arias from several Baroque operas. Her first CD, Joyous Light, a disc of Armenian songs, caught the attention of composer Howard Shore, who invited her to sing on his soundtrack for the Lord of the Rings film mentioned above. She also recorded Mahler’s Second Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.

Isabel Bayrakdarian has received many grants and other awards in addition to the first prize in the Operalia competition run by Plácido Domingo: Canada's Juno award, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, a Canada Council Grant, the 2005 Virginia Parker Prize, the Leonie Rysanek Award from the George London Foundation, and a Metropolitan Opera National Council Award in 1997. 

Miss Bayrakdarian, born in Lebanon, of proud Armenian heritage, and a loyal citizen of Canada, moved with her family to Canada as a teenager. Her earliest singing experience was at church, which remains, along with her family, the central focus of her life. She is the subject of a CBC-TV film entitled A Long Journey Home that documents her emotional and musical first trip to Armenia, where she recently recorded a disc of works by Gomidas. She holds an honors degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Toronto. http://www.bayrakdarian.com/biography.html

Vocal :: Soprano

Isabel Bayrakdarian Изабэл Байракдарян Manager: Elizabeth Crittenden Management Territory: Worldwide Ahead of her years in both voice and musicianship, Isabel Bayrakdarian is gaining international prominence for her electrifying stage presence and captivating voice. Winner of numerous competitions, her most recent triumph was first prize in Placido Domingo's Operalia 2000 Competition. Future engagements include productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera Company, San Francisco Opera, and the San Diego Opera, as well as numerous recitals and appearances as soloist with orchestra. Ms. Bayrakdarian recently made her first recordings with CBC records. She's as fresh as rain. She has an exquisite lyric soprano voice imbued with warm clear amber, her musicality seems flawless and she's versatility itself. - Lloyd Dykk, Vancouver Sun, November 27, 2001

Isabel Bayrakdarian's Website http://www.bayrakdarian.com/ http://www.cami.com/?cat=Vocal&webid=32

http://www.bayrakdarian.com/biography.html

"Instinctively dramatic and expressive, she is able to inhabit whatever music she sings..." - Urjo Kareda, Globe and Mail

 "Isabel Bayrakdarian's Изабэл Байракдарян is a voice the world seems 

destined to know well. … Through a combination of vocal gifts, musical and dramatic intelligence, she has become a prototype of the 21st century opera star." - Toronto Star "The bright-voiced soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, in her Met debut, was a blooming Catherine." - Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, who burst onto the international opera scene after winning first prize in the 2000 Operalia competition, has performed in virtually all the world's major opera houses. The young Armenian-Canadian is admired as much for her stunning stage presence as for her uncommon musicality, and has followed a career path entirely her own. Her signature roles – Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Marzelline in Fidelio, Adina in L'elisir d'amore and Rosina in The Barber of Seville – are only part of the repertoire of her rocketing career. Ms. Bayrakdarian is also a first-rank Handelian, known for such heroines as Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Romilda (Xerxes), and Emilia (Flavio), and is becoming an expert on the music of Armenia's iconic composer, Gomidas (1869-1935).

Miss Bayrakdarian has been applauded for opera performances in Salzburg, Paris, New York, Chicago, Dresden, Milan, San Francisco, Toronto and elsewhere, and is renowned as well for her work in remoter corners of the repertory, such as Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini and Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, in which she made her Metropolitan Opera debut.

Highlights of Miss Bayrakdarian’s 2005-2006 season include the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night gala, in which she sings Susanna to Bryn Terfel's Figaro in Act I of Le Nozze di Figaro; singing Eurydice to David Daniels's Orpheus in Orfeo at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Le Nozze di Figaro at the Houston Grand Opera; and her debut at the Royal Opera House in London, also in Figaro. Her orchestral appearances include debuts with the Chicago and Montreal Symphonies – both in the Mahler Fourth Symphony, with conductors David Zinman and James Conlon respectively. She will participate in the 2006 Salzburg Festival's presentation of all of Mozart's operas, singing Zerlina in Don Giovanni, conducted by Daniel Harding.

Miss Bayrakdarian, accompanied by her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, has also triumphed in recital in New York’s Carnegie Hall and on stages in Atlanta, Berkeley, Boston, Edmonton, Ottawa, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere. She has concertized with orchestras in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and at home in Canada with Tafelmusik, Les Violons du Roy, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and with every major Canadian orchestra.

Isabel Bayrakdarian sings on the Grammy® Award-winning soundtrack of the blockbuster film The Lord of The Rings:The Two Towers, as well as in the multiple award-winning Canadian film Ararat. Ms. Bayrakdarian’s newest recording is a widely-praised collection of songs by singer/composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia. On Azulão she sings songs by Spanish composers and on Cleopatra she portrays the Egyptian queen in arias from several Baroque operas. Her first CD, Joyous Light, a disc of Armenian songs, caught the attention of composer Howard Shore, who invited her to sing on his soundtrack for the Lord of the Rings film mentioned above. She also recorded Mahler’s Second Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.

Isabel Bayrakdarian has received many grants and other awards in addition to the first prize in the Operalia competition run by Plácido Domingo: Canada's Juno award, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, a Canada Council Grant, the 2005 Virginia Parker Prize, the Leonie Rysanek Award from the George London Foundation, and a Metropolitan Opera National Council Award in 1997. 

Miss Bayrakdarian, born in Lebanon, of proud Armenian heritage, and a loyal citizen of Canada, moved with her family to Canada as a teenager. Her earliest singing experience was at church, which remains, along with her family, the central focus of her life. She is the subject of a CBC-TV film entitled A Long Journey Home that documents her emotional and musical first trip to Armenia, where she recently recorded a disc of works by Gomidas. She holds an honors degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Toronto. November - December 2002 Catherine in "A View From the Bridge", Metropolitan Opera, New York. Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor.

October 2002 Recital, Berkeley, California. Martin Katz, Pianist

October 2002 "Light From the Cross", Alice Tully Hall. Mario Bernardi, Conductor.

October 2002 CBC GALA Anniversary Concert, Montreal.

October 2002 Concert Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, with Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, New York. Mario Bernardi, Conductor.

August - September 2002 Susanna in "Le Nozze Di Figaro", Paris Opera/Bastille.

July - August 2002 Servilia in Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito" with the Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe. Kenneth Montgomery, Conductor.

May 2002 Mahler, Symphony No. 4, Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh. Mariss Jansons, Conductor.

May 2002 Recital George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts, Toronto. Accompanist: Martin Katz.

April 2002 Cleopatra in Handel's "Giulio Cesare", with the Canadian Opera Company, Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto.

March 2002 Montréal en voix: Montreal High Lights Festival. A celebration of the wealth of Montréal's and Canada's vocal history. (Televised by CBC)

January 2002 Valencienne in Lehar's "Merry Widow" with the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco, with Frederica von Stade.

December 2001 "Messiah" by G.F. Handel, with Les Violons du Roy, Bernard Labadie, Artistic Director. Quebec City.

December 2001 Recital. Weill Recital Hall, New York. Accompanist: Martin Katz.

December 2001 "Messiah" (See above) United Church, Port Hope, Ontario.

December 2001 "Messiah" (See above) Massey Hall, Toronto.

December 2001 "Messiah" (See above) Salle Claude-Champagne, l'Université de Montréal, Montreal.

November 2001 Recital. Jordan Hall, Boston. FleetBoston Celebrity Series. Accompanist: Martin Katz.

November 2001 Recital. Chan Centre Concert Hall, Vancouver. Accompanist: Martin Katz.

November 2001 Euridice in Gluck's "Orfeo" with the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Other soloists: Ewa Podles as Orpheo, Lisa Saffer as Amore. Orchestra conducted by Martin Katz.

October 2001 Adina in Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore", Hamilton & Kitchener-Waterloo, with Opera Ontario.

September 2001 A Gala Evening with Yo-Yo Ma and Pinchas Zukerman, National Arts Centre, Ottawa. Yo-Yo Ma was one of eight cellists accompanying Isabel Bayrakdarian in "Cantileña" from Villa Lobos' "Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5". Isabel also performed "L'amerò sarò costante" from Mozart's "Il re pastore" with Pinchas Zukerman on violin.

September 2001 Armenian Sacred Music Concert on the occasion of the 1700th Anniversary of Armenian Christianity, with orchestra; Raffi Armenian, conductor. George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto, Ontario.

USA

Operas:

2005 LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Metropolitan Opera James Levine, conductor Gala Opening of the Season

2005 (Susanna) LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Houston Grand Opera

2006 ORFEO ED EURIDICE Lyric Opera of Chicago Harry Bicket, conductor

Recitals:

2005 - Duluth, Minnesota Pianist, Serouj Kradjian

2006 - Wake Forest University, North Carolina Pianist, Serouj Kradjian

Concerts:

2006 - MAHLER 4th SYMPHONY Chicago Symphony David Zinman, conductor

Canada

Concerts:

2005 - Benefit CONCERT University Of Toronto Convocation Hall

2005 - Christmas Concert Ottawa - Cathedral Arts Society

2006 - ALL-MOZART CONCERT Toronto Symphony Orchestra Peter Oundjian, conductor

2006 - ALL-MOZART CONCERT Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Bramwell Tovey, conductor

2006 - MAHLER 4th SYMPHONY Montreal Symphony James Conlon, conductor

2006 - ST MATTHEW PASSION Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir

Recitals:

2006 - Centre In The Square with Russell Braun Pianists, Serouj Kradjian and Carolyn Maule

2006 - Hamilton Place with Russell Braun Pianists, Serouj Kradjian and Carolyn Maule

Europe/South America

Concerts:

2005 - DON GIOVANNI Salzburg Festival Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor

2006 - LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (Susanna) Covent Garden, Royal Opera House Sir Colin Davis, conductor