CANADIAN SOPRANO’S VOICE HAS ‘BRILLIANCE’ AND ‘LIGHTNESS’
by Mike Youds

Kamloops Daily News
November 11, 2011 Friday
British Columbia

IN CONCERT
WHAT: Isabel Bayrakdarian in recital
WHEN: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Sagebrush Theatre
TICKETS: Kamloops Live! Box Office
– – –

Calling them a dynamic duo doesn’t begin to describe the achievements
of soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and her husband, pianist and composer
Serouj Kradjian.

The couple performs Saturday night at Sagebrush Theatre in the second
concert of The Daily News Chamber Music Series.

Bayrakdarian, a Lebanese Armenian whose family moved to Canada when
she was a teenager, provided the serene yet haunting voice in The Lord
of the Rings: The Two Towers with its Grammy-winning soundtrack. She
entered the spotlight as an international opera star 10 years ago
after winning first prize in the Operalia competition founded by
Placido Domingo. Since then she has established herself as one of
opera’s most expressive voices.

“Her voice has a brilliance and a lightness that don’t prevent it
from descending to darker nether regions or swelling to near-operatic
fortes,” a New York Times critic wrote.

The soprano has four Juno awards to her credit, the most recent one for
her recording of Mozart arie & duettie with Russell Braun and Michael
Schade. She also holds an honours degree in biomedical engineering,
representing another side to her talents.

Kradjian, a musicologist, has also had an international career of solo
and chamber concerts. His playing has been described as “a pianistic
hurricane.” The Globe & Mail called him “a keyboard acrobat.”

He has performed with symphonies around the world. He is also the
founder and music director of Camerata Creativa, a contemporary
chamber orchestra based in Madrid.

How did they meet? Kradjian heard about Bayrakdarian professionally
and invited her to be part of a musical project. Their artistic
collaboration began eight years ago on a 2005 recording of songs by
Pauling Viardo-Garcia, which earned them the 2006 Juno for classical
album of the year. They fell in love, married and have a young son
in Toronto.

The Armenian roots they hold common represent another side of the
story. Almost a century after the Armenian genocide of 1915, the pain
and persecution remain close to the heart of their identity.

She was the focus of a 2006 CBC documentary, A Long Journey Home, which
shadowed her return to her ancestral homeland. An emotionally charged
film, it explores the Armenian tradition of sacred music as the soprano
prepares for her debut with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Kradjian’s orchestral arrangements of folk songs by Gomidas Vartabad,
Armenia’s national composer, were released in 2008 and earned him a
Grammy nomination.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress