Victoria Avetisyan
Mezzo-soprano
New England Finalist, 2003

Victoria Avetisyan is a native of Yerevan, Armenia. She completed her academic training at the Komitas State Conservatory (1990-96), graduating with a Master's Degree in Vocal Performance from the studio of Professor Svetlana Kolosaryan. She began her singing career as a principal artist at the National Opera Theater of Armenia in 1996, where she sang numerous roles including Paranzem and Shoushan in Choukhajian's operas Arshak II and Karine, the Mother in Armen Tigranian's beloved Anoush, Azucena and Emilia in Verdi's Il Trovatore and Otello, respectively, and Rossini's Cenerentola and Rosina.

Ms. Avetisyan will make her New York début on the Bel Canto at Caramoor opera series in November 2002 when she sings the starring role of Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.

In the fall of 2001, the very versatile Ms. Avetisyan made her company début with the Boston Lyric Opera as Princess Sophia Korchagin in the Boston premiere of Tod Machover's Resurrection, and her Boston Symphony Hall début as soloist in Verdi's Requiem. She has also appeared as soloist with the Nashua Symphony Orchestra and performed the role of Carmen with Ocean State Lyric Opera.

Recent engagements have included recital and concert performances as guest soloist in New York, Boston, and Providence, Fenema in Verdi's Nabucco with Chorus pro Musica in Boston, and her début with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as alto soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No.9 and his English and Irish Folk Songs.

In 1999, Ms. Avetisyan was selected to join Boston University's internationally recognized Opera Institute. After two years of intensive study, she completed her Artists Diploma. During this period, she performed numerous roles including Armelinde in Viardot's La Cendrillon, Zita in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Mozart's Marcellina, and Ursula in Béatrice et Bénédict by Hector Berlioz.

A recipient of numerous distinctions, Victoria Avetisyan is winner of the Andrew & Anne Pinto Award at Connecticut's Opera Guild Scholarship Competition. She has also earned the Gerda Lissner Foundation Award and second prize in the Liederkranz Vocal Competition.

Return to List of Finalists