Gegam Grigoryan

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Gegam Grigorjan , also Gegam Grigorian , ( Armenian Գեղամ Գրիգորյան ; born January 29, 1951 in Yerevan , Armenian SSR ; † March 23, 2016 in Yerevan, Armenia ) was an Armenian opera singer ( tenor ).

Life

Training and career start

Gegam Grigorjan began taking violin lessons as a child at the age of six . From the age of 18 he attended the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, where he first studied choral conducting. After a year, at the age of 19, he switched to singing. He made his stage debut in 1971 at the age of 20. In 1972 he went to West Berlin , where he performed in solo concerts. From 1972 he continued his vocal studies at the Yerevan State Conservatory in the singing class of the Armenian tenor, singing professor and folk artist Sergei Danieljan. In 1975 he was a prize winner at the Glinka Singing Competition, later (1982) he was also a prize winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow .

In 1975 he made his debut at the Armenian National Opera in Yerevan with the role of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor . At the beginning of his career he sang mainly lyrical roles such as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville and the title role in Gounod's opera Faust . He also sang lyrical roles in Russian and Armenian operas.

In 1978 he took part in the singing competition of the La Scala Opera School in Milan and was one of the four winners who were allowed to continue their vocal studies at the Scala Music School. Grigorjan then studied for two years from 1978 to 1980 at the Scala Opera School. During his training in Italy he performed in various concerts organized by La Scala and the embassy of the USSR. He soon made his debut at La Scala in Milan as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly ; later Grigori / Dimitri in Boris Godunow and Cavaradossi in Tosca followed under Claudio Abbado , who was then chief conductor of the Scala .

In 1980 he was hired by Virgilijus Noreika , director of the Lithuanian National Theater, at the Vilnius Opera House. There he sang a. a. Lenski in Eugene Onegin , Grigori / Dimitri in Boris Godunow , the title role in Don Carlos , Alfredo in La Traviata , Herzog in Rigoletto , Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and numerous other roles in Russian and Italian. From 1980 to 1988 Grigorjan was a permanent member of the Lithuanian National Theater. In 1988 he made guest appearances at the Lemberg Opera House as Cavaradossi in Tosca ; he also appeared at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. In May 1989 he stepped in as Cavaradossi at the Vienna State Opera once for a short time.

In 1989 he was engaged as "First Tenor" at the Kirov Theater in Leningrad (since 1992 Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg ). There he sang lyrical and youthful-dramatic tenor roles, a. a. Lenski, Hermann in Queen of Spades and Pierre in War and Peace . In 1993 he sang the role of the Indian guest (businessman from India) in a new production of the opera Sadko at the Mariinsky Theater . In 1998 he took over the role of Alvaro in a new production of the opera La forza del destino . In 2000 he sang the title role in Don Carlos at the Mariinsky Theater .

Guest performances in Europe

During the times of the USSR, Grigorjan was one of those artists who were not allowed to perform in other Western European countries for 10 years, for reasons that were not known. He was included on the list of artists for whom there were travel bans. In the early 1990s, with the gradual opening of the Soviet Union, Grigoryan's international operatic career began. With the ensemble of the Petersburg Mariinsky Theater under the musical direction of Valerij Gergiev, he appeared on guest tours in Europe and North America .

In Western Europe he sang first in Amsterdam (May 1991 at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam , as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia ) and in Paris at the Opéra Bastille (as Pierre in Krieg und Frieden ). In March 1992 he gave a guest performance with the ensemble of the Mariinsky Theater with Prince Igor at the Teatro Politeama in Palermo . In the 1992/93 season he made a guest appearance at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in January 1993 in a VARA production as "vocally ideal" Alvaro in a concert performance of the Verdi opera La forza del destino . In 1993 he appeared at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with the ensemble of the Mariinsky Theater as Usjevolod in Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Legend of the Invisible City Kitesch and the Virgin Fewronija . In April 1993 he made a guest appearance with the ensemble of the Kirow Opera (St. Petersberg) as Hermann in Pique Dame in a concert performance at the Alte Oper Frankfurt . In July 1993 he made his debut at the Covent Garden Opera in London with the role of Lenski . In the summer of 1993 he sang Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana at the opera festival in the Caracalla thermal baths ; In 1994 Radames in Aida followed at the Rome Opera .

He has performed at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa (1994 as Pollione in Norma ), at the Monte Carlo Opera House (1994 as Lenski, 1998 as Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera ), at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze (1995 as Riccardo, 1996 as Turiddu ), at the Orange Festival (1995 as Radames, 1996 as Alvaro), at the Wiesbaden State Theater (1996 as Cavaradossi with Eva Marton as a partner) and at the Hamburg State Opera (1997 as Manrico in Il trovatore ). In 1998 he sang the role of Vasily Golitsyn in Khovanshchina at La Scala in Milan . Further guest performances followed at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice (1998/99 season as Radames), at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (1999 as Alvaro), at the Toulouse Opera House (1999 as Alvaro), at the Nice Opera House (1999 as Turiddu) and on Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (2001 as Radames).

Guest performances overseas

In 1993 he made a guest appearance as Dimitri in Boris Godunow with the ensemble of the Kirov Opera (St. Petersburg) in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1995 he sang Pollione in Norma at a concert performance in Washington . In 1995 he appeared as Riccardo at the Opera House in Santiago de Chile . In December 1995 he made his official debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Hermann in Queen of Spades ; he later appeared there as Radames in Aida (February 2001) and as Count Pierre Visitow in War and Peace (February / March 2002). In war and peace in particular, he and Anna Netrebko (Natascha) “excited” with an “outstanding performance”.

In 1996 he sang the title role in Ernani in a concert performance in Washington . In 1998 he made a guest appearance with the ensemble of the Mariinsky Theater at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (as Grigori / Dimitri and as Golitsyn); later (2000) he sang Canio in Pagliacci there . He sang this role in the 1998/99 season at the Baltimore Opera House . In 1999 he appeared at Carnegie Hall in the opera Jolanthe . In the summer of 2002 he sang the role of Yaromir in the ballet opera Mlada by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco with a “full, robust tenor sound” .

Opera director and death

2000 Grigorjan became artistic director of the Yerevan Opera House; he directed the opera house, especially after the end of his active singing career, for almost seven years. During this time he also emerged as an opera director . He also worked as a singing teacher. His daughter Asmik Grigorian is also an opera singer.

Grigoryan was "Honored Artist of the Republic of Lithuania" and People's Artist of the Republic of Armenia. He died in March 2016 at the age of 65 from complications from cirrhosis of the liver .

family

In his first marriage he was married to the Lithuanian soprano Irena Milkevičiūtė (* 1947), LMTA professor, and had the daughter Asmik Grigorian (* 1981), Lithuanian opera singer (soprano).

He then married the ballet dancer Valeria, who was 20 years his junior.

Audio documents

Grigorjan's important operatic roles such as Lenski, Hermann (recorded in May 1992; with “youthful, heroic, beautifully timbred, high-security voice” in “one of Hermann's best casts on records”), Vaudemont in Jolanthe ; Alvaro are on record a . a. documented at Philips ; there are also complete recordings of the operas Sadko , Fürst Igor and Krieg und Frieden (recording 1991; published in 1993, in which Grigorjan's “beguiling lyric tenor” was praised).

There are also video recordings of some performances. In Arthaus / Naxos Video A replay appeared from La Forza del Destino (1998 from the Mariinsky Theater with Grigorjan Alvaro); His Hermann in Queen of Spades and Indian Merchant in Sadko have been published by Philips-Video . In 2005 a film adaptation of the opera Norma appeared with Gegam Grigorjan as Pollione.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Armenian tenor Gegham Grigoryan passed away aged 65 obituary; Public Radio of Armenia, March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  2. ↑ IL PRINCIPE IGOR DI BORODIN A PALERMO ; in: La Repubblica, March 27, 1992. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  3. ↑ Michael H. Eisenblätter: MERITABLE . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue March 3, 1993. page 69.
  4. ^ Grigorian, Gegam (tenor) performance archive of the Metropolitan Opera. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  5. ↑ FP (= Fred Plotkin): NEW YORK: (Too?) Risky spectacle at the Met . Performance review. In: Opera glasses . Edition April 4, 2002. Page 40.
  6. ^ ROB (= Robert J. Del Bonta): The best for last? . Performance review. In: Opera glasses . Edition November 11, 2002. Page 17.
  7. ↑ Breaking news: Armenian tenor GEGAM GRIGORIAN died from the complications of a liver cirrhosis. (photo courtesy Charles Mintzer) Opera Nostalgia. March 2016 edition. Accessed March 26, 2016
  8. ↑ Rudolf Hopper: consistently convincing . CD review on Philips recording in: Orpheus , January 1994 edition, page 57.
  9. ^ Lothar Sträter: In spite of everything a master ; CD review in: Opernwelt , July 1993 edition, page 68/69.
  10. ↑ World premiere of the Bellini opera "Norma" in Vyborg . Sputniknews of August 17, 2005. Retrieved March 26, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Grigoryan, Gegam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grigorian, Gegam; Գրիգորյան, Գեղամ (Armenian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Armenian opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Yerevan , Armenian SSR
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 2016
Place of death Yerevan , Armenia