Arda Mandikian

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Arda Mandikian ( Greek Άρντα Μαντικιάν , born September 1, 1924 in Izmir , Turkey ; † November 8, 2009 in Athens ) was a Greek opera singer and concert singer with a soprano voice .

Life

Arda Mandikian was born in Smyrna , Turkey, to Armenian parents who survived the Armenian genocide in 1915. She moved to Greece with her family when she was a child.

Mandikian studied singing at the Royal Conservatory of Athens with Elvira de Hidalgo . She performed with Maria Callas at student concerts . In 1948 she came to England . In 1949 she gave a concert at Morley College in London under the direction of Egon Wellesz . The program, titled Twenty-one centuries of Greek song, included ancient Greek hymns, Byzantine monodies and modern Greek folk music, including songs by Mikis Theodorakis . Due to its great success, the concert program was later repeated in Oxford and Wigmore Hall in London. For EMI and the His Master's Voice label , she also recorded all six surviving Delphic fragments in the ancient amphitheater in Delphi in 1949 .

As an opera singer, she made her debut with the Oxford Opera Society in 1950 as Didon in The Trojans by Hector Berlioz . In this role she also made guest appearances at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and at the Holland Festival in The Hague in 1952 . Previously, they had been in 1951 Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell at the Mermaid Theater , the role of London sorceress at the side of Kirsten Flagstad and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf sang.

In December 1953 Mandikian made his debut at the Covent Garden Opera in London. There she sang at the side of Peter Pears one of the nieces in Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten , later the musette in La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini and in 1954 the title role in The Golden Cockerel by Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow .

She appeared in several world premieres, including 1951 in Oxford in the comic opera Incognita by Egon Wellesz and in 1952 in a concert performance of the opera Nelson by Lennox Berkeley at London's Wigmore Hall.

Mandikian achieved particular fame in 1954 in the role of Miss Jessel in the world premiere of the opera The Turn of the Screw at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice . Britten had written this role specifically for Mandikian's voice. She also sang this role in the English premiere of the work in Sadler's Wells Opera .

In the period that followed, Mandikian took on numerous roles in the works of Benjamin Britten. Later she also sang Alice Ford in Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi and Elettra in Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart .

She performed at the Aldeburgh Festival , the Edinburgh Festival and regularly at the Proms , among others .

In the early 1960s, Mandikian returned to Greece for private reasons. As a staunch opponent of the military dictatorship in Greece , Mandikian did not appear publicly during the military junta in Greece. She did not accept engagements abroad for fear that she would later be refused to return to her home country.

From 1974 to 1980 Mandikian was co-director of the Athens Opera. She was also president of the Maria Callas Society . She gave master classes and worked intensively as a singing teacher.

Mandikian died in Athens at the age of 85.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arda Mandikian (1924–2009) Obituary in: BBC Music Magazine
  2. ↑ Arda Mandikian: soprano championed by Benjamin Britten Obituary Arda Mandikian in: The Times of November 17, 2009
  3. ^ Vita Arda Mandikian Homepage Find A Grave Memorial
personal data
SURNAME Mandikian, Arda
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek opera and concert singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH September 1, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Izmir , Turkey
DATE OF DEATH November 8, 2009
Place of death Athens