Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian To Sing Kansas City Debut Presented By Harriman-Jewell Series
WHO: ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN, soprano
in recital
Serouj Kradjian, pianist
PRESENTED BY: HARRIMAN-JEWELL SERIES
WHEN: Saturday, January 26, at 8 p.m.
WHERE: FOLLY THEATER, downtown Kansas City, Mo. (12th and Central Sts.)
TICKETS: $25 or $55 | call 816-415-5025 or visit www.harriman-jewell.org
PROGRAM: works by Poulenc, Heggie,
Dvorak, Rossini, Gomidas, Ravel, and Obradors
view
complete program list
HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES: 
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visit www.bayrakdarian.com/downloads
EDUCATIONAL EVENT: Isabel Bayrakdarian will
also lead a free vocal master class for preselected students
at noon on Sunday, January 27, Forbis Recital Hall, inside the Pillsbury Music Center,
on the William Jewell College campus, Liberty, Mo. The public
is invited to observe the class at no charge. Please contact Heather
Forbis at 816-415-5025 for more information. campus map
Soprano
Isabel Bayrakdarian, who Time magazine has praised
for her “voice that combines lyricism with remarkable
dramatic instincts,” performs a recital at 8
p.m. Saturday, January 26, at the Folly Theater (12th
and Central Sts.) in downtown Kansas City, Mo. This Harriman-Jewell
Series presentation marks Bayrakdarian’s first
appearance in Kansas City and is set to include works
by Poulenc, Heggie, Dvorak, Rossini, Gomidas, Ravel,
and Obradors.
Bayrakdarian burst onto the international opera scene after winning first prize in the 2000 Operalia competition founded by Plácido Domingo. Since then she has performed in many of the world's major opera houses, most recently endearing herself to London’s audiences in her Royal Opera House debut as Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.
The young Armenian-Canadian, who is admired for her stunning stage presence and for her exceptional musicality, has followed a career path completely her own. Her most famous roles are in Mozart operas (she was kept quite busy during the composer’s 250th birthday year); Susanna, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Pamina in The Magic Flute have been her calling cards, along with Marzelline in Fidelio, Adina in L'elisir d'amore and Rosina in The Barber of Seville. But these are only a few of the roles from her rocketing career. Bayrakdarian sang Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo to signature success at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Romilda (Xerxes), and Emilia (Flavio) demonstrate her tremendous skills as a Handelian.
Isabel Bayrakdarian sings on the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack of the blockbuster film The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers, and her voice can also be heard in the multiple award-winning Canadian film Ararat. The soprano’s widely-praised recording of songs by singer/composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia brought her a third Juno award for “Best Classical Album,” Canada’s highest recording prize. Azulão is a disc of songs by Spanish composers, and on Cleopatra she portrays the Egyptian queen in arias from several Baroque operas. Her first solo CD, Joyous Light, presents Armenian sacred music. She has also recorded Mahler’s Second Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.
For her Kansas City recital Bayrakdarian will perform with her husband pianist Serouj Kradjian. She has previously triumphed in recital in New York’s Carnegie Hall, in Atlanta, Berkeley, Boston, Edmonton, Ottawa, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, and elsewhere. Last season the couple toured Canada together, and performed at New York’s newest recital space—the Gilder Lehrman hall in the Morgan Library, as well as in Palm Beach, Toronto, Savannah, and Tokyo.
Continuing her passion for wide-ranging repertoire, Bayrakdarian presented her first evening of tangos in a concert at Toronto’s new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, and she participated in world-premiere performances of Jake Heggie and Gene Sheer’s one-act opera To Hell and Back. Her co-star in the production was Broadway icon Patti LuPone, and they were accompanied by San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, under its music director Nicholas McGegan.
Born in Lebanon of proud Armenian heritage, and now a citizen of Canada, Bayrakdarian moved with her family to Toronto as a teenager. Her earliest singing experience was at church, which remains—along with her family—the central focus of her life. She is the subject of a CBC-TV film entitled A Long Journey Home that documents her first trip to Armenia; on another recent trip there she recorded a disc of songs by the country’s national composer, Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935), with her husband and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. She holds an honors degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Tickets to the Isabel Bayrakdarian recital are $25 or $55; please call the Harriman-Jewell Series at 816-415-5025 (or toll free at 888-528-5521). Tickets and event information are also available at www.harriman-jewell.org. This recital is sponsored in memory of Gloria Jean McCarty.
Now in its 43rd season, the nationally recognized Harriman-Jewell Series brings acclaimed performers from the worlds of music, dance, and theatre to Kansas City’s downtown venues. In addition to the performances, educational events offer free master classes and lectures to allow area community members and students to view artists in an informal setting.
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