Varduhi Abrahamyan

Mezzo Soprano

Born in a family of musicians, Franco-Armenian mezzosoprano Varduhi Abrahamyan completed her studies at the Conservatory of Yerevan.

Season 2018-19 started with the return to Canadian Opera in Eugene Onegin, followed by concert performances of La donna del lago at Opéra de Marseille and the house debuts at Gran Teatre del Liceu in L’Italiana in Algeri, Opera de Oviedo as Carmen and Opera Las Palmas for the first time as Eboli in Don Carlo. Additionally, she returned to Opéra Bastille as Preziosilla in La forza del destino. In concert, she sings Verdi Requiem in tour with MusicAeterna Ensemble in Moscow, Paris, Cologne, Hamburg, Vienna and Athens.

In the recent seasons she appeared in Alcina at Théâtre des Champs Elysées and at Opernhaus Zürich with Cecilia Bartoli, Carmen in Palermo, Atlanta, Hong Kong, Zürich, Bolshoi-Moscow and Hamburg, Mrs. Quickly (Falstaff), Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Carmen and Eugene Onegin at Opéra Bastille. Further highlights have included Benvenuto Cellini at Opera di Roma, Dalila (Samson et Dalila) at Palau de les Arts in Valencia (where she had debuted in 2015 with in Norma e Nabucco) under the baton of both Roberto Abbado and Plácido Domingo, Semiramide at Opéra de Marseille and at Tchaikowsky Concert Hall in Moscow, La donna del lago at Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Polinesso in Händel’s Ariodante at Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. Moreover, she sang a concert series with Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome conducted by Stéphane Denève.

On the concert podium, she sang the Verdi’s Requiem with Myung-Whun Chung at the Festival de Saint-Denis with Orchestre de Paris, Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome under the conduction of Nicola Luisotti and at the Philharmonie de Paris with Jesús López Cobos, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Cecilia Bartoli in Martigny and Lugano, the Wesendonck-Lieder at the Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater at the Festival de Saint-Denis with Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio-France conducted by Jakub Hruša.

In the past seasons, she sang at the Paris Opera Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri), Ottone (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Cornelia (Giulio Cesare) and Pauline (Pique Dame). Moreover, she performed the role of Lydia Tchoukovskaïa for the premiere of Bruno Mantovani’s opera Akhmatova.

Further highlights in her career include the roles of Malcolm (La Donna del Lago) at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, Carmen in Toulon, Néris (Cherubini’s Médée) and Rinaldo at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She also played Arsace (Semiramide) at the Montpellier Opera, Nerestano (Bellini’s Zaïra) at the Montpellier Festival and for Radio France, Pauline (Pique Dame) at the Capitole in Toulouse, and Bersi (Andrea Chénier) with Pinchas Steinberg.

Other engagements included Manuel de Falla’s El amor brujo at the Théâtre du Châtelet conducted by Marc Minkowski, Orphée et Eurydice in Versailles, Marseille and Saint-Etienne, and Polinesso (Ariodante) at Geneva’s Grand-Théâtre. With Cecilia Bartoli she sang Bradamante (Alcina) at the Zurich Opera.

Her upcoming plans include the house debuts at Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro Regio in Turin and La Fenice in Venice as Carmen, at Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo in Lucrezia Borgia and at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Orphée et Eurydice, as well as the return to Rossini Opera Festival in Semiramide and to Gran Teatre del Liceu and Opernhaus Zürich as Carmen.