Varduhi Abrahamyan was born in a family of musicians. She starts her professional career at Opéra de Paris, where she appears almost every season in a different repertoire, including the roles of Carmen in the homonymous opera, Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Paulina (Pique Dame), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Mme. Quickly (Falstaff), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Lydia Chukovskaya (in the world première of Bruno Mantovani’s Akhmatova), Cornelia (Giulio Cesare), Maddalena (Rigoletto).
Her career soon leads her to appear on the most prestigious venues, both national and international, in a wide repertoire which spans from Monteverdi to Wagner.
Season 2023/24 starts with Maometto II at Teatro di San Carlo, followed by Don Carlo at Opéra de Monte-Carlo and Carmen at Oper Frankfurt. In concert, she sang Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Aix-en-Provence, Paris and Ingolstadt, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Dresdner Philharmonie.
In season 2022/23 her house debuts with the Royal Opera House as Bradamante in Alcina, a role she also performed at Opéra de Monte-Carlo along with Rossini’s Stabat Mater, and with Teatro di San Carlo as Fricka in Die Walküre. Other notable engagements in the season were Adelaide di Borgogna at Rossini Opera Festival and Verdi’s Requiem at Festival Verdi in Parma.
Highlights in the past seasons include the house debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Rigoletto and Eugene Onegin, Don Carlo at Opera Las Palmas and Opéra de Marseille, L’Italiana in Algeri and Norma at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Lucrezia Borgia at Donizetti Opera Festival.
She performed as Carmen at Opéra de Paris, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Hong Kong Opera, Zurich Opera, Bolshoi Theatre, Hamburg State Opera, Opera de Oviedo, Atlanta Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino.
Further highlights include Alcina with Theatre dès Champs Élysées, Zurich Opera and Opéra de Monte-Carlo with Cecilia Bartoli, Benvenuto Cellini at Opera di Roma, Samson et Dalila at Palau de les Arts di Valencia, where she had debuted in Nabucco and Norma, alongside Mariella Devia. Moreover, Semiramide and La donna del lago with Rossini Opera Festival, Opéra de Marseille and Theater an der Wien, Eugene Onegin and Ariodante with Canadian Opera Company and Grand Theatre de Genève, Rinaldo with Theatre dès Champs-Élysées, Nerestano (Zaïra di Bellini) with Festival di Montpellier and for Radio France, Pauline (Pique Dame) with Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse.
In concert, she sang Verdi’s Requiem with Myung-Whun Chung at Festival de Saint-Denis, Verdi’s Requiem in tour with MusicAeterna Ensemble in Moscow, Paris, Köln, Hamburg, Vienna and Athens, Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Accademia di Santa Cecilia and with Philarmonie de Paris conducted by Jesús López Cobos, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater in Martigny and Lugano with Cecilia Bartoli, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater at Festival de Saint-Denis with Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France.
Upcoming plans include Don Carlo at Teatro di San Carlo, Norma at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Das Rheingold at Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
Gianluca Macheda
Grzybowska 43a, lok. 72 00-855
Warsaw Poland
gmacheda@gmartandmusic.com
Martina Biagini
Via Romana 578/B 55100 Lucca Italy
+39 3479762848
mbiagini@gmartandmusic.com
“Varduhi Abrahamyan delivered the goods and tackled her bravura arias with dauntless courage and accuracy.”
Martin Wheeler, Opera News
“Non moins spectaculaire s’avère le chant de la mezzo arménienne Varduhi Abrahamyan, avec un engagement physique et vocal qui rend particulièrement crédible son Malcolm. Avec son timbre riche et profond, d’une virtuosité électrisante, elle offre un parfait exemple de grande maîtrise belcantiste, notamment dans la cabalette « Oh ! Quante lacrime finor versai », où elle offre un da capo varié, avec des vocalises tourbillonnantes.”
Emmanuel Andrieu, Opera Online
“The enhanced role of Bradamante was superbly performed by the Franco-Armenian mezzo-soprano Varduhi Abrahamyan, one of the singers recently chosen for Cecilia Bartoli’s label “Mentored by Bartoli.” Abrahamyan brought her character to the fore with vitality and occasional humor, resulting in a complexity and vigor that sometimes lacks in other productions. Among her many impressive vocal moments, her Act two aria “Vorrei vendicarmi” stood out for the long stretches of low-lying coloratura that are often a challenge for mezzos but which she sung with great aplomb.”
Robert Adelson & Jacqueline Letzter, Operawire.com
“La mezzo-soprano Varduhi Abrahamyan, habituée du répertoire haendelien, incarne l’épouse oubliée de Ruggiero avec beaucoup de puissance, tant vocalement que scéniquement”
Maeva Da Cruz, Bachtrack
“Bouleversante Varduhi Abrahamyan, mezzo-soprano Elle est Malcom, un homme chanté par une femme. C’est une grande tradition dans l’opéra italien et dans l’opéra en général d’avoir les rôles de jeunes hommes joués par des femmes. Sa voix grave de contralto se joue des graves et des aigus avec une facilité diabolique. Très féminine dans une robe de soirée noire, elle impose force et talent et personnifie un Malcom amoureux et impétueux. Acclamée au premier acte, c’est à elle que va l’engouement du public, à cette voix extrêmement chaude, extrêmement grave, dans laquelle s’inscrit tout le rôle de Malcom. Voix magnifique, voix précieuse, dont l’agilité dans une tessiture aussi grave demande beaucoup de souplesse et de facilité dans la virtuosité du chant.”
Danielle Dufour-Verna, Projecteur TV