Opera and Armenian Music Together at South Milwaukee PAC Performance

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Photo: yeghishemanucharyan.com

Yeghishe Manucharyan

Yeghishe Manucharyan

Milwaukee opera aficionados will be treated to a rare performance in early October at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center. The rising stars on the program are a married couple, Metropolitan Opera tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan and Boston Opera mezzo-soprano Victoria Avetisyan. They are Armenian. Their performance will include Verdi, Mozart and Puccini but will expand into the less familiar dimension of the ancient musical traditions of Armenia

Music was integral to both their lives from childhood. For Avetisyan, the turning point was reached at age five when her mother brought her to a performance of Anoush, an early 20th century opera by composer Armen Tigranian set among common people with melodies and themes drawn from local folk traditions. It was Armenia’s Porgy and Bess.

Avetisyan met her future husband and operatic partner at the Komitas State Conservatory, Armenia’s premiere music school.

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Photo: victoriaavetisyan.com

Victoria Avetisyan

Victoria Avetisyan

“We were paired as singing partners at the conservatory because our voices worked so well with each other, and we have been duet partners ever since,” Manucharyan says. “Victoria and I also studied as husband and wife at Boston University’s Opera Institute.”

They began singing professionally in their homeland, but their talent quickly brought them to concerts across Europe and the U.S. and steady roles for estimable American opera companies. The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall are only a few of the many venues where they have performed in the U.S. Their South Milwaukee PAC concert provides a unique opportunity to hear them venture outside the traditional opera repertoire. As the audience will hear, the melodic drama of Armenian music lends itself well to opera-trained voices. A version of one song on the evening’s program, “Bari Arageel,” as performed in a rousing rendition by System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, can be found on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOkRCR40sqU

Yeghishe Manucharyan and Victoria Avetisyan will perform “An Evening of Classical Music and Armenian Folk Songs” at South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, .6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. For tickets, call 414-766-5049 or visitsouthmilwaukeepac.org/tickets.