N E W S

Lusine Arakelyan

We met Lusine Arakelyan at a festive occasion oon September 20, 2013, when the new Music School N. 6 in Gyumri was officially opened. Introduced as a singer who had graduated from the school, she impressed us with her modesty. At the end of the celebration, attended by the Armenian President, numerous guests of honor, city and church representatives, an outdoor concert took place, with performances by the school’s chorus and orchestra, several ensembles, and Lusine Arakelyan. Her powerful, yet gentle soprano voice and her fresh delivery also left a strong impression. Along with arias from the world opera repertoire, she also sang classical Armenian folk songs. From this first, rather fleeting encounter, a close friendship was to develop in the course of time, continuing to the present day.

At that point Lusine Arakelyan, who was born in Gyumri in 1984, had already successfully completed her training as a singer and pianist, had taken part in competitions and won several prizes for her singing. After having completed her graduate studies under Karine Mkrtchyan at the State Conservatory in Yerevan, she won her Masters degree in 2008. She had held solo performances since 2004, together with, among others, the Armenian State Philharmonic, the Kohar Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Tatsharan Ensemble and the Opera Studio at the State Conservatory in Yerevan. She had been engaged as soloist at the Ghazaros Saryan Opera Studio of the Conservatory since 2008, and seemed destined for a career in opera in Armenia or the region. At our first meeting, she told us that she was hoping to be able to continue her training in Germany. We were eager to help her in this direction. The first opportunity presented itself a year later. She contacted us in Spring 2014 with the news that she had received invitations to sing in Germany and Austria, and we arranged to cover her travel costs.

Lusine Arakelyan in concert on June 1, 2014 at the Church of the Redeemer in Berlin

During her Germany tour, we heard her perform in a concert on June 1, 2014 in the Church of the Redeemer in Berlin, organized on the occasion of the Armenian National Holiday (May 28). Before an audience of mainly Armenians, and friends, she presented a program entitled, “A Musical Journey through Time,” with arias and songs by Weber, Strauß, Verdi, Kalman as well as Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and the Armenian classical composers Komitas and Atchemyan. A few days later, she took part in the singing competition of the 3rd Komitas Festival, at Schloß Prötzel, near Berlin, and won 2nd prize. It was in Berlin that she received an official invitation to perform in Poland at the end of 2014. From Berlin she travelled on to Munich and Vienna, where she was invited by the Vienna Chamber Orchestra to participate in the Hans Gabor International Singing Competition. A few months later, she sang in concerts in Katowice in Upper Silesia, on the invitation of Conductor Grzegorz Mierzvinski. Lusine Arakelyan sang, accompanied by the Kopalnia Wegla Kamiennego Murcki Staszic Orchestra, 12 pieces, including songs by Komitas and Dolukhanyan. The concerts were a great success, and were the first solo concerts that the young soprano gave professionally, -- a big step in her young career.

In September 2015, Lusine Arakeylan attended Master Classes in opera singing (Canto Lirico) in Trevignano Romano, not far from Rome. Here she received coaching from the Italian soprano Stefania Bonfadelli and Maestro Simone Maria Marziali. From there she went to Barcelona, where she competed in the International Montserrat Caballé singing competition. The Mirak-Weissbach Foundation was happy to cover her plane fare from Yerevan to Rome, Barcellona and return.

When we visited Armenia again in 2016, Lusine Arakelyan invited us to visit her at the place where she earned her daily bread. Here we became acquainted with her as a music teacher. At the music school in the heart of Yerevan named after Aleksey Hekimyan, she had organized a concert especially for us with students, including many of her own. The director, several teachers and parents filled the hall which was, as always, decorated for the occasion; it was a great honor. We were deeply impressed and moved. It was clear to us that some of the students were on their way to becoming excellent musicians. After the concert, when we congratulated Lusine on her work and expressed our happiness that she had chosen such a wonderful occupation as a teacher, and such a successful one, she paused, then said, “But I am a singer, and what I want more than anything is to sing, sing, sing.” 

As became clear later, Lusine’s teaching has borne fruits…. In June and July 2018, we were able to facilitate a concert tour for a group of her selected students to Vienna and Berlin. In Vienna, on the occasion of the 2800th anniversary of the founding of the capital Yerevan/Erebuni, a concert of classical Armenian and selected European repertoire was held. The concert took place in the St. Hripsime Armenian Apostolic Church. The ambitious program included vocal and instrumental works for soloists and ensembles in various languages. The young students, age 14 and younger, delighted the overwhelmingly Armenian audience. The second phase of their tour took them to Berlin, where the Association of European and Armenian Experts (AEAE), with the support of Abraam Kostanyan, the Yerevan Restaurant and singer Artak Kirakosyan, had organized a concert. Here, as in Vienna, the aim was to build cultural bridges between German and Armenian musicians of the younger generation and to offer the young musicians the opportunity to gain experience in artistic performance. With works from the Italian repertoire two youngsters stood out: Augustin Lara sang an aria from Verdi’s Rigoletto and Narek Sahakyan performed Granada. The ensemble pieces included Komitas’s Dance Songs of an Armenian Peasant, Alexej Hekimyan’s “Good-natured Stork,” and the duet by Franz Lehar “Lips are Silent.” Traditional Armenian instruments also were featured, among others, a Dance by Johannes Brahms and Armenian folk songs performed on the kanoon, At the conclusion of the Berlin concert, not only were there sanding ovations, but the audience joined in to sing the well-known folk song Erebuni-Yerevan, some with tears in their eyes. Singer and teacher Lusine Arakelyan had good reason tob e proud of her students and very satisfied with the concert tour.

In the following year 2019 we again had the privilege of attending a concert at the school. This time Lusine presented very promising young musicians, who were to go on a concert tour in Italy and take part in a competition in Rimini.

In fact the young musicians from Yerevan set out for the internationalen Artists Days-Italy, which took place in Rimini from June 24 to 27th, and won a lot of prizes. Lusine Arakelyan was of course proud that all the students won, altogether, 4 first and 7 second prizes. She reported that the students had been able to delight the audiences with their musical maturity and joy. The audiences were also struck by the excellent pronunciation of Italian in the songs. At the end of the cocert, Lusine Arakelyan, herself not only a teahcer but an opera singer, performed a wonderful rendition of the aria “Il Bacio” (The Kiss) by Luigi Arditi. All the perfomers received hearty and lengthy applause. 

Lusine’s success as a teacher is considerable, but she still holds fast to her dream of a career on the opera and operetta stage. She has continued to take advantage of opportunities to present her artistic talents as well as to continue her singing education. In early 2017 she was invited on a concert tour through Poland, from Gdynia on the Baltic Sea, on to Lublin and Tarnow not far from Krakòw and Warsaw. On the invitation of Conductor Woytek Mrozek she was able to perform with well-known artists, among others, with the Warsaw opera tenor Leshek Swidinski, Agata Sava who is very popular in Poland, and the Ukrainian violinist Maryan Mario Lomaha. At the same time, she also had the opportunity to perform in concert with various orchestras from Poland and Ukraine, like the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra from Lublin. Lusine Arakelyan stood out in Warsaw, where she impressed 1200 listeners in the concert hall with arias from Verdi’s La Traviata, Puccini’s Schicchi and Franz Lehar’s Zigeunerliebe und Giuditta. She was rewarded repeatedly with standing ovations. The music critic Kristina Sulzichka wrote about the “incredible Lusine Arakelyan, who, with her beautiful voice and her vast musical experience, will remain unforgettable!”
Lusine herself was somewhat overwhelmed by this experience. „The entire tour was like a dream. It was so wonderful to appear on the stage with great orchestras and so many different opera singers, she wrote us after her return. And she added: “Now I am going to work hard for the next steps….” She has long since begun to learn German. For her next step was to take her to the UDK, the Berlin University of the Arts.
The Berlin University of the Arts regularly offers intensive Master Classes for opera singers. In early 2017, Lusine had submitted recordings of her voice and was accepted for the summer session. As she wrote to us after her Berlin visit, she considered it a great honor to receive instruction from such an extraordinary personality as Cheryl Studer, a world renowned American dramatic opera soprano. Studer had made a name for herself especially with her interpretation of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Lusine also worked with Gerd Uecker, Professor of Music and Opera Direction, who was artistic director of the Semperoper in Dresden from 2003 to 2010. With a very demanding schedule, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Lusine and her colleagues improved their stage presence, gestures, relaxation techniques, correct pronunciation of German texts, and of course singing technique. A special experience and highpoint oft he course was the final concert, for which Lusine was asked to present several pieces.
The Mirak-Weissbach Foundation financed the tuition and travel expenses from Yerevan to Berlin. During her stay in Germany Lusine also appeared at an event in Bochum on November 11, 2017 and sang songs by Komitas and Mesrob Mashtots. The cultural event was entitled “The Armenians in Luther Year,” as it was the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformaiton, the year Luther posted his 95 theses in Wittenberg. 

Everywhere in Europe and worldwide, the Covid19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to cultural activity. Not only young adults undergoing training, but also famous artists had to cancel concerts and tours. Many withdrew or performed only through the Internet. Lusine Arakelyan continued her work during this period and plans to produce a CD this year 2022, with her own interpretation of arias and songs. We are eagerly looking forward to it. The samples that she has already sent us are very promising.