Anna Kasyan
Encyclopedia
Anna Kasyan is a Georgia
-born Armenian
opera singer (soprano
) living in France
.
Kasyan is one of the young artists who is viewed with high expectations in her field.
, Georgia. From an early age, she participated in many performances as a soloist. At the age of 9 she made her debut with an orchestra. In 1999, Kasyan entered Tbilisi State Conservatory
in violin class. By this time she became interested in singing and in 2001, she continued studying singing at the same Conservatory
.
After completing her musical education, Kasyan continued her studies in France. Since 2003 she pursued singing classes at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris
, where she graduated in 2008 with the Diploma of Higher Concertiste with unanimous approval. Simultaneous to her studies, Kasyan also entered "cycle du perfectionnement" (specialization) at Conservatoire de Paris
between 2004–2006. Kasyan participated in master classes led by Tom Krause
, Raina Kabaivanska
, Viorica Cortez
, Janine Reiss and baroque music
with Nicolau de Figueiredo and Jory Vinikour
.
International Competition in San Marino (2005, Second Prize); a First Prize in Singing Musical Autumn Festival, Adams, then a 1st Prize in Singing Competition in Pretoria
. She was the winner of the Meyer Foundation award for the years 2004–2005.
Kasyan was selected by Adami (Society for Administration of Rights of Artists, Musicians and Performers) for Revelations Classics 2006.
In May 2008, she participated in International Queen Elisabeth Music Competition
in Belgium. She gave an outstanding performance and the competition went well for Kasyan: 24 candidates were selected out of 72 eligible to compete. Kasyan participated in the semi final on 13 May 2008. At the end of the semi-finals, she was one of the 12 finalists, and then became the winner of this very prestigious competition held every four years. Kasyan ranked first winner in soprano category in 2008.
On 12 June 2009 Anna Kasyan won the Grand Prix
at the 3rd International Singing Competition at the 71st Strasbourg Music Festival
under the chairmanship of Barbara Hendricks
.
In 2010 Anna Kasyan was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique
Classique award.
, Opéra de Genève
, Saint Petersburg
, Salle Cortot
in Paris, UNESCO, Cité de la Musique
, gives concerts in San Marino and in Italy.
In December 2005, she made the notable performance of Mozart's Requiem
at St. Eustache Church in Paris
.
In 2006, she sang Rachmaninoff
-Scarlatti
-Haendel
in Paris. She also performed works of Armenian
composer Garbis Aprikian
before her Mozart
concert in Toulouse
. Her talent was rewarded again in the same year 2006, when she received: the 3rd Prize in Opera category, Mozart Prize and the Best Opera Singer Prize at the ARD International Music Competition
in Munich
, and 1 Song Award at the International Pamplona
.
In 2007, she performed in Basel
, where she performed songs of Schubert
and French opera arias. The artist also gave a series of Mozart concerts in Warsaw
, Zurich, Osnabrück
, Pamplona
and Toulouse
and appeared in recital at the Festival of Sacred Music in Nice
, and at the Opera de Toulon
(Jano in Jenufa).
Her recently notable roles include Zerlina in Mozart
's Don Giovanni
, Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville
and Norina in Donizetti
's Don Pasquale
.
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
-born Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
opera singer (soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
) living in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Kasyan is one of the young artists who is viewed with high expectations in her field.
Early life and education
Kasyan began her early musical training by studying piano and violin at the Central Music School for gifted children, in TbilisiTbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, Georgia. From an early age, she participated in many performances as a soloist. At the age of 9 she made her debut with an orchestra. In 1999, Kasyan entered Tbilisi State Conservatory
Tbilisi State Conservatory
Tbilisi State Conservatoire is the State Conservatoire of Georgia, located in the capital Tbilisi.-History:The Tbilisi Conservatoire was founded on 1 May 1917. It was formally recognised by the Russian Musical Society as a conservatoire later that year. A rival conservatoire was also founded in...
in violin class. By this time she became interested in singing and in 2001, she continued studying singing at the same Conservatory
Tbilisi State Conservatory
Tbilisi State Conservatoire is the State Conservatoire of Georgia, located in the capital Tbilisi.-History:The Tbilisi Conservatoire was founded on 1 May 1917. It was formally recognised by the Russian Musical Society as a conservatoire later that year. A rival conservatoire was also founded in...
.
After completing her musical education, Kasyan continued her studies in France. Since 2003 she pursued singing classes at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris
École Normale de Musique de Paris
The École Normale de Musique de Paris is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, France. The school was founded by Auguste Mangeot and pianist Alfred Cortot in 1919...
, where she graduated in 2008 with the Diploma of Higher Concertiste with unanimous approval. Simultaneous to her studies, Kasyan also entered "cycle du perfectionnement" (specialization) at Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
between 2004–2006. Kasyan participated in master classes led by Tom Krause
Tom Krause
Tom Krause is a Finnish operatic baritone particularly associated with Mozart roles.Born in Helsinki, he first studied medicine, while singing and...
, Raina Kabaivanska
Raina Kabaivanska
Raina Kabaivanska is a Bulgarian opera singer, one of the leading lyrico-spinto sopranos of her generation, particularly associated with Verdi and Puccini, although she sang a wide range of roles....
, Viorica Cortez
Viorica Cortez
Viorica Cortez is a noted Romanian-born mezzo-soprano, later French by naturalisation. Starting her operatic and concert career in the mid-1960s, she went on to become one of the most prominent female performers of the '70s and '80s...
, Janine Reiss and baroque music
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
with Nicolau de Figueiredo and Jory Vinikour
Jory Vinikour
Jory Vinikour is an American harpsichordist. He has been living in Paris since 1990, where he studied on a scholarship from the Fulbright Foundation with Huguette Dreyfus and Kenneth Gilbert....
.
Awards and nominations
Kasyan is a prize-winner of numerous international competitions, including the 1st Renata TebaldiRenata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period...
International Competition in San Marino (2005, Second Prize); a First Prize in Singing Musical Autumn Festival, Adams, then a 1st Prize in Singing Competition in Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
. She was the winner of the Meyer Foundation award for the years 2004–2005.
Kasyan was selected by Adami (Society for Administration of Rights of Artists, Musicians and Performers) for Revelations Classics 2006.
In May 2008, she participated in International Queen Elisabeth Music Competition
Queen Elisabeth Music Competition
The Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, a founding member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions has been, since its foundation, considered the world over to be one of the most prestigious and most difficult. It is devoted to violin , piano , to composition and to singing...
in Belgium. She gave an outstanding performance and the competition went well for Kasyan: 24 candidates were selected out of 72 eligible to compete. Kasyan participated in the semi final on 13 May 2008. At the end of the semi-finals, she was one of the 12 finalists, and then became the winner of this very prestigious competition held every four years. Kasyan ranked first winner in soprano category in 2008.
On 12 June 2009 Anna Kasyan won the Grand Prix
Prize
A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. Official prizes often involve monetary rewards as well as the fame that comes with them...
at the 3rd International Singing Competition at the 71st Strasbourg Music Festival
Strasbourg Music Festival
The Strasbourg Music Festival is a prominent annual two-week festival of classical music...
under the chairmanship of Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks is an African American operatic soprano and concert singer. Hendricks has lived in Europe since 1977, and in Switzerland on Lake Geneva since 1985, She is a citizen of Sweden.-Early life and education:...
.
In 2010 Anna Kasyan was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique
Victoires de la Musique
Victoires de la musique , is an annual French award ceremony that recognizes the best musical artists of the year.- Male artist of the year :*1985 : Michel Jonasz*1986 : Jean-Jacques Goldman*1987 : Johnny Hallyday...
Classique award.
Performances
Being an active performer, Kasyan has sang in prestigious halls such as Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, Opéra de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in...
, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Salle Cortot
École Normale de Musique de Paris
The École Normale de Musique de Paris is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, France. The school was founded by Auguste Mangeot and pianist Alfred Cortot in 1919...
in Paris, UNESCO, Cité de la Musique
Cité de la Musique
The Cité de la Musique is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the La Villette quarter, 19th arrondissement, Paris, France. It was designed by the architect Christian de Portzamparc and opened in 1995...
, gives concerts in San Marino and in Italy.
In December 2005, she made the notable performance of Mozart's Requiem
Requiem (Mozart)
The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
at St. Eustache Church in Paris
Église Saint-Eustache, Paris
L’église Saint-Eustache is a church in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, built between 1532 and 1632.Situated at the entrance to Paris’s ancient markets and the beginning of rue Montorgueil, the Église de Saint-Eustache is considered a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture...
.
In 2006, she sang Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
-Scarlatti
Scarlatti
Scarlatti was the name of several Italian composers:*Alessandro Scarlatti , Baroque composer known for operas and chamber cantatas*Francesco Scarlatti , Baroque composer and musician, brother of Alessandro Scarlatti...
-Haendel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
in Paris. She also performed works of Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
composer Garbis Aprikian
Garbis Aprikian
Garbis Aprikian is a musician from the Armenian Diaspora. He composed many vocal and instrumental works in which Western musical technique marries Armenian melodies. As a performer, Garbis Aprikian has directed for about fifty years the Armenian mixed chorus of Paris Sipan-Komitas...
before her Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
concert in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. Her talent was rewarded again in the same year 2006, when she received: the 3rd Prize in Opera category, Mozart Prize and the Best Opera Singer Prize at the ARD International Music Competition
ARD International Music Competition
The ARD International Music Competition is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is held once a year in Munich.-History:...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and 1 Song Award at the International Pamplona
Pamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
.
In 2007, she performed in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, where she performed songs of Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
and French opera arias. The artist also gave a series of Mozart concerts in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Zurich, Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
, Pamplona
Pamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
and Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
and appeared in recital at the Festival of Sacred Music in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, and at the Opera de Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
(Jano in Jenufa).
Her recently notable roles include Zerlina in Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
and Norina in Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
.