Hovhannes Ayvazyan

            Hovhannes Ayvazyan is one of the most remarkable tenors of his generation. His rich, dark and at the same time very resonant spinto tenor reminds some acclaimed critics of the timbre of Mario del Monaco. Ayvazyan is renowned for his captivating, commanding performances of demanding dramatic roles, such as  Otello, Canio, Don Alvaro, Calaf, etc. He is described as an artist “with tremendous vocal and dramatic power and a great stage presence. Ayvazyan extraordinarily portrays not only the character’s emotions, but also their inner torment, with a sincere, heartfelt performance. Ayvaziyan is an artist with great temperament and a great soul”.

Since his 2010 stage debut, Hovhannes Ayvazyan has frequently performed at various Opera Houses and Concert Halls including Hamburg State Opera (Rodolfo in Luisa Miller), Greek National Opera (title role in Otello), Staatoper Hannover (Manrico in Il Trovatore), Prague State Opera (title role in Otello and Radames in Aida), NCPA Beijing (title role in Otello), Polish National Opera (Cavaradossi Tosca), Gwangju Culture and Art Center (title role in Andrea Chénier), Daegu International Opera Festival (Manrico in Il Trovatore), Grand Opera Theater in Poznań (Calaf in a new production of Turandot, Radames in Aida and title role in Otello), Frankfurt Opera (Don Alvaro in La forza del destino), Staatstheater Wiesbaden and Hungarian State Opera (title role in Otello), Arena di Verona, Oper im Steinbruch, Royal Danish Opera, Müpa Budapest (Manrico in Il Trovatore) and Dubai Opera (Radames in Aida), Teatro Massimo Bellini (title role in Andrea Chénier), Palm Beach Opera (Calaf in Turandot).

As a guest soloist he has performed at the Bolshoi Theatre (Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera and Rodolfo in Luisa Miller) and Mariinsky Theatre (Manrico “Il Trovatore”, Don Alvaro “La forza del destino”, title role “Don Carlo”, Radames “Aida”, title role “Otello”, Canio “Pagliacci”, Turiddu “Cavaleria Rusticana”, Cvaradossi “Tosca”, Maurice de Saxe “Adriana Lecouvreur”, Luigi “Il Tabarro”, Dick Johnson “La fanciulla del West”, Calaf “Turandot”).

Since 2008 he has been the leading soloist at the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre with the following repertoire: Don Jose in Bizet’s Carmen, Radames in Verdi’s Aida, title role in Verdi’s Otello, Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca, Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madam Butterfly as well as title role in Armenian opera – A. Arutiunian’s Sayat- Nova.

Ayvazyan has often performed under the baton of Maestro Valery Gergiev, and had the pleasure to work frequently with such legends as Maria Guleghina, Anna Netrebko, Olga Borodina, Lyudmila Monastirskaya, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Tatyana Serjan, Hui He, and many others.