Isabel Bayrakdarian
Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is an unusually versatile singer, active in opera, classical concert and choral music, the music of the Armenian tradition, film music, and pop and crossover styles. Of Armenian background, she has devoted a significant part of her career to Armenian music, although she did not visit Armenia until adulthood.
Bayrakdarian was born in Zahlé, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, on February 1, 1974. Her Armenian family moved to Canada when she was a teenager. Bayrakdarian attended the University of Toronto, earning a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering in 1997. She switched to singing after winning a Metropolitan Opera National Council Award that year, and in 1998, she took classes at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, taking home the school's inaugural Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition. That was the first of several awards she won; others have included the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, the Moyses Khronenatsi Medal (Armenia's highest cultural honor), and, in Canada, four consecutive Juno Awards for Best Classical Album. Bayrakdarian's career took off quickly in the early 2000s, leading her to appearances in many of the world's top opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Paris Opera, and La Scala in Milan. Her operatic repertory runs from Handel to William Bolcom's contemporary A View from the Bridge. Bayrakdarian's work extends into many other realms. She has sung concert and choral music under such conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Christoph Eschenbach.
Bayrakdarian has been heard on various film soundtracks, including The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (in the track "Evenstar"). Her film work includes A Long Journey Home (2008), a film about her first visit to Armenia, and she has toured North America with a program featuring the music of Armenian composer Komitas Vardapet. Bayrakdarian has recorded for the CBC, Analekta, and Delos labels, among several others, issuing operatic recordings, crossover albums such as Tango Notturno (2008), and albums of Armenian music. In 2020, Bayrakdarian issued The Other Cleopatra, focusing on arias about the Armenian queen Tigrane. Bayrakdarian is on the voice faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
12 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Isabel Bayrakdarian – Armenian Songs for Children
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Avie Records on 18 jun. 2021
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Isabel Bayrakdarian – La Zingarella: Through Romany Songland
Klassiek - Released by AVIE Records on 20 mei 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
SACRED MUSIC OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH ( Anonymous - Petros Shoujounian)
Klassiek - Released by CBC on 16 apr. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Other Cleopatra: Queen of Armenia
Isabel Bayrakdarian, Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, Constantine Orbelian, Jory Vinikour
Opera - Released by Delos on 20 mrt. 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
GRANADOS / RODRIGO / FALLA: Songs (Fernando Periquet - Enrique Granados - Traditional)
Klassiek - Released by CBC on 21 okt. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Respighi: Il tramonto
Isabel Bayrakdarian, Orchestre symphonique de Laval, Alain Trudel
Klassiek - Released by ATMA Classique on 1 sep. 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mark Abel: Spectrum
Klassiek - Released by Delos on 21 okt. 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Armenian Chamber Music
Amici Chamber Ensemble, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Benjamin Bowman
Klassiek - Released by ATMA Classique on 1 feb. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MOZART: Opera Arias and Duets (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Emanuel Schikaneder - Lorenzo da Ponte)
Opera - Released by CBC on 6 feb. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gomidas Songs
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Isabel Bayrakdarian
Folk - Released by Digital Classic on 22 dec. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Passing By: Songs by Jake Heggie
Klassiek - Released by AVIE Records on 14 sep. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Respighi: Il tramonto
Isabel Bayrakdarian, Orchestre symphonique de Laval, Alain Trudel
Klassiek - Released by ATMA Classique on 1 sep. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo