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BAYRAKDARIAN SHIMMERS IN SUBLIME SHOW
Ottawa Citizen, Canada
July 10 2013
By Richard Todd, OTTAWA CITIZEN July 10, 2013
Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano Manitoba Chamber Orchestras; Anne Manson,
conductor Music and Beyond Dominion-Chalmers Church, Wednesday at
8 p.m.
OTTAWA - Isabel Bayrakdarian is one of Canada's most esteemed sopranos,
and the esteem doesn't stop at our borders. She has performed far
and wide and was even featured in the sound track to The Lord of
the Rings. More recently she sang the starring role of Blanche in
the Canadian Opera Company's production of Poulenc's Dialogues des
Carmelites. In fact, she has sung in almost every important musical
centre in the world.
Her appearance Wednseday evening was one of the highlights of Music
and Beyond's Festival 2013. The audience wan't too impressive, though.
Dominion-Chalmers was scarcely half full. One reason for that may
have been that the repertoire was fairly esoteric, a bonus for those
who were there, but a disincentive to those who might have preferred
the Encounter with Nature concert offered at the Canadian Museum of
Nature at the same time. And then this was the second performance of
the program that these same musicians gave Tuesday afternoon at St.
Andrew's.
The program opened with Phillip Glass's Symphony No. 3, a reasonably
engaging work that reflects some evolution from the simplistic formulae
that characterized his music in the early days.
But the evening really belonged to Bayrakdarian, the satin beauty,
whose voice carried all before it. No, that doesn't say it all:
Her voice is one of the most engaging and congenial in the world today.
Her first offering, Ravel's Kaddisch, demonstrated, to this listener at
least, that no matter how happy a memory you may cherish of a singer
of Bayrakdarian's quality, memory can't compare to the experience of
hearing her live.
Next she offered two gorgeous songs by the 18th-century Armenian
minstrel Sayat Nova, but the real highlight of the evening was a
set of songs by Serouj Kradjian to texts by the 13th-century female
troubadour, Ysabelle. They are in Arabic, Hebrew, Occitan and English.
Although the music has a certain eastern Mediterranean flavour, it
is also vigorously contemporary. Barakdaryan, conductor Anne Manson
and the orchestra delivered a passionate and irresistible account of
the score.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Bayrakdarian+shimmers+sublime+show/8643235/story.html
From: A. Papazian
Ottawa Citizen, Canada
July 10 2013
By Richard Todd, OTTAWA CITIZEN July 10, 2013
Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano Manitoba Chamber Orchestras; Anne Manson,
conductor Music and Beyond Dominion-Chalmers Church, Wednesday at
8 p.m.
OTTAWA - Isabel Bayrakdarian is one of Canada's most esteemed sopranos,
and the esteem doesn't stop at our borders. She has performed far
and wide and was even featured in the sound track to The Lord of
the Rings. More recently she sang the starring role of Blanche in
the Canadian Opera Company's production of Poulenc's Dialogues des
Carmelites. In fact, she has sung in almost every important musical
centre in the world.
Her appearance Wednseday evening was one of the highlights of Music
and Beyond's Festival 2013. The audience wan't too impressive, though.
Dominion-Chalmers was scarcely half full. One reason for that may
have been that the repertoire was fairly esoteric, a bonus for those
who were there, but a disincentive to those who might have preferred
the Encounter with Nature concert offered at the Canadian Museum of
Nature at the same time. And then this was the second performance of
the program that these same musicians gave Tuesday afternoon at St.
Andrew's.
The program opened with Phillip Glass's Symphony No. 3, a reasonably
engaging work that reflects some evolution from the simplistic formulae
that characterized his music in the early days.
But the evening really belonged to Bayrakdarian, the satin beauty,
whose voice carried all before it. No, that doesn't say it all:
Her voice is one of the most engaging and congenial in the world today.
Her first offering, Ravel's Kaddisch, demonstrated, to this listener at
least, that no matter how happy a memory you may cherish of a singer
of Bayrakdarian's quality, memory can't compare to the experience of
hearing her live.
Next she offered two gorgeous songs by the 18th-century Armenian
minstrel Sayat Nova, but the real highlight of the evening was a
set of songs by Serouj Kradjian to texts by the 13th-century female
troubadour, Ysabelle. They are in Arabic, Hebrew, Occitan and English.
Although the music has a certain eastern Mediterranean flavour, it
is also vigorously contemporary. Barakdaryan, conductor Anne Manson
and the orchestra delivered a passionate and irresistible account of
the score.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Bayrakdarian+shimmers+sublime+show/8643235/story.html
From: A. Papazian