Gohar Gasparyan: biography and work of the Armenian opera diva

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Gohar Gasparyan is a great Soviet singer of Armenian origin, the owner of a unique coloratura soprano. She is famous for her performances of almost all classical female opera parts; in the Soviet Union, the phrase "Gasparyan sings" became synonymous with female operatic performance. From this article you can find out the biography of Gohar Gasparyan.

Early years

Gohar Mikaelovna Gasparyan (nee Khachatryan) was born on December 14, 1924 in Cairo (Egypt), into an Armenian family. While studying at the Galustyan College in Cairo, Gohar first discovered her singing inclinations in extracurricular music classes. While studying at school, the girl also began to sing in the choir of the Armenian Church of Gregory the Illuminator. Having received a school education, the aspiring singer took up vocals professionally. Her teachers were Italians Vincenzo Carro and Elise Feldman. In 1940, 16-year-old Gohar was invited to the state radio of Egypt - she remained its soloist for eightyears, performing with successful solo concerts and continuing to study professional vocals along the way.

In 1948, Gohar Gasparyan decided to move to the USSR. She settled in Armenia (at that time the Armenian SSR), because she loved her small homeland and always wanted to live where her ancestors came from.

Opera art

In 1949, twenty-five-year-old Gohar Gasparyan became a soloist with the Spendiarov Armenian Opera and Ballet Theatre, where she performed title roles in twenty-three operas. Among them:

• Anush, Karine, Lakme and Norma in Tigranyan's operas of the same name;
• Chukhadzhyan, Delibes and Bellini;
• Lucia in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor";
• Desdemona in Othello and Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto;
• Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville;
• Martha in "The Tsar's Bride" and the Shamakhan Queen in Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Golden Cockerel";
• Marguerite in Faust and Juliet in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet.

On the video below, you can see the performance of Gohar Gasparyan's song-aria Dinora from the opera of the same name by Giacomo Meyerbeer.

Other activities

In addition to opera performances, Gohar Mikaelovna actively toured the republics of the USSR and other countries (USA, England, France, Japan and many others). Her recitals have included works by many composers such as Bach, Mozart, Handel, Grieg, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, as well as Italian,French, German and Armenian folk songs.

Gohar Gasparyan also appeared in films. Sometimes she voiced the vocal parts of the characters, as in the films "The Secret of the Mountain Lake" (1954), "Karine" (1967), "Anush" (1983), "Arshak" (1988). And sometimes appearing in concert films, such as "Armenian Concert" (1954), "On This Festive Evening" (1959), "Gohar Gasparyan Sings" (1963), "Gohar" (1974).

Besides this, since 1964 Gohar Mikaelovna has been a teacher at the Komitas Conservatory in Yerevan, since 1973 she has been a professor at the Department of Vocal and Opera Art.

Gohar Gasparyan was also a deputy of the seventh and eighth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and a deputy of the fifth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR.

Awards and titles

During her long musical career, Gohar Mikaelovna won almost all the main awards of the Soviet Union.

In 1951, the singer received the Stalin Prize of the third degree for her performance as Gohar in the opera The Heroine.

In 1954, Gohar Gasparyan was awarded the title of "People's Artist of the Armenian SSR", and in 1956 - "People's Artist of the USSR".

In 1964 she received the State Prize of the Armenian SSR.

In 1981, Gohar Mikaelovna was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples, in 1984 - the Order of Lenin and the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for her outstanding contribution to the development of musical artTHE USSR. Also in 1984, Gohar Gasparyan became an honorary citizen of Yerevan.

In 1994, the singer was awarded the Order of Saint Mesrop Mashtots, the main state award of Armenia since 1993.

Private life

Gohar Gasparyan was married twice. Having moved to the Armenian SSR, she met her first husband, Hayk Gasparyan, under whose name she began her creative activity in the USSR and subsequently became famous. In 1949, Gohar and Hayk had a daughter, who was named Seda, she still lives in Yerevan. After the death of Hayk, Gohar was a widow for about ten years, and only in 1965 she remarried.

The second husband of the artist was her student Tigran Levonyan, who was 12 years younger. Despite this difference, the couple lived together for thirty-nine years, until Tigran's death in 2004. He also sang in the opera, received the title of "People's Artist of the Armenian SSR" and, together with his wife, taught at the Komitas Conservatory. From 1991 to 1999, Tigran Levonyan was the director of the Armenian Opera and Ballet Theater named after Spendiarov, in which the star Gohar Gasparyan once rose. In the photo below, Gohar and Tigran at the beginning of their married life.

Gohar Mikaelovna, who had good he alth throughout her life, was very upset by the death of her beloved husband. She aged noticeably and began to get sick often. The famous singer died on May 16, 2007 at the age of 82. She was buried in the pantheon of the Komitas park.