Karan Armstrong
Encyclopedia
Karan Armstrong is an American
opera
tic soprano
who has had an active international career since the 1960s.
in Santa Barbara, California
. She made her operatic debut in 1965 with a minor company in San Francisco as Musetta in La bohème
. She made her first appearances with the San Francisco Opera
the following year as Elvira in L'Italiana in Algeri
.
In 1966 Armstrong won the Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions which led to her being engaged by the house as a comprimario
singer. She made her debut at the Met on October 2, 1966 as one of the servants in Richard Strauss
's Die Frau ohne Schatten
under conductor Karl Böhm
with Leonie Rysanek
as the Empress and Christa Ludwig
as the Dyer's Wife. She continued to perform regularly at the Met up through the Spring of 1969 in smaller roles like the Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel and Annina in La traviata
. Better offers came her way from the New York City Opera
, and she made her first appearance with that company as the Reine de Chémakhâ in Le coq d'or
in 1969. She was to appear at that theatre many times through 1977, singing such roles as Violetta in La traviata
(1975), the title heroine in La Belle Helene
(1976), and Minnie in La fanciulla del West
(1977) among others.
In 1974, Armstrong first appeared in Europe, as Micaëla in Carmen
, at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg
. The following year, she created a great sensation with her performance of Salome
at the same theatre. Further performances in Europe followed, including Tosca
in Venice
, and Elsa in the 1979 Bayreuth Festival
's Lohengrin
, directed by her future husband, Götz Friedrich
, which was later recorded and filmed. She also sang in Berlin
(where she was to be a great favorite), Vienna
, Paris
, Covent Garden (Lulu, which Robert Craft
once declared was "accurately sung and perfectly enacted"), Los Angeles
, and the Bolshoi Theatre
in Moscow
.
Armstrong has sung in several operatic world premieres, including Gottfried von Einem
's Jesu Hochzeit (as Death), Giuseppe Sinopoli
's Lou Salomé, Luciano Berio
's Un re in ascolto
, York Höller
's Maître et Marguerite and Siegfried Matthus
's Desdemona und ihre Schwestern. Other celebrated roles include those in Susannah
, Salome, Les contes d'Hoffmann
(as Giulietta), La voix humaine
, Lohengrin, Pelléas et Mélisande
, Lulu
, Wozzeck
, Der Rosenkavalier
, Die tote Stadt
, Parsifal
, Erwartung
, Die Walküre
(as Sieglinde), Katya Kabanova, The Makropulos Case, Fidelio
, Mathis der Maler (as Ursula), Tannhäuser
(as Venus, with René Kollo
) and Dialogues des Carmélites (as Mother Marie of the Incarnation).
In 1985, Armstrong was named a Kammersängerin in Stuttgart; in 1994, she received the title in Berlin.
In the 2009/2010 season (December/January), Armstrong sang the Old Lady in Bernstein's Candide, at the Flanders Opera; Larina in Tschaikowsky`s "Eugen Onegin", at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (March/April/May) as well as the Queen of Hearts in Unsunk Chin`s "Alice in Wonderland" at the Grand Teatre de Geneve (June).
Armstrong was married for many years to opera director Götz Friedrich
. Their marriage ended upon Friedrich's death in 2000. The couple had one son together.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic 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...
who has had an active international career since the 1960s.
Biography
Originally trained as a pianist, Armstrong graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College in 1963. She later studied with Lotte LehmannLotte Lehmann
Charlotte "Lotte" Lehmann was a German soprano who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart and Massenet. The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest...
in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
. She made her operatic debut in 1965 with a minor company in San Francisco as Musetta in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
. She made her first appearances with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
the following year as Elvira in L'Italiana in Algeri
L'italiana in Algeri
L'italiana in Algeri is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca...
.
In 1966 Armstrong won the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
National Council Auditions which led to her being engaged by the house as a comprimario
Comprimario
A Comprimario is a supporting role in an opera. Derived from the Italian "con primario", or "with the primary", the term refers to a performer who sings small role pieces....
singer. She made her debut at the Met on October 2, 1966 as one of the servants in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Die Frau ohne Schatten
Die Frau ohne Schatten
Die Frau ohne Schatten is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917...
under conductor Karl Böhm
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...
with Leonie Rysanek
Leonie Rysanek
Leopoldine "Leonie" Rysanek was an Austrian dramatic soprano.-Biography:Rysanek was born in Vienna and made her operatic debut in 1949 in Innsbruck. In 1951 the Bayreuth Festival reopened and the new leader Wieland Wagner asked her to sing Sieglinde...
as the Empress and Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig is a retired German mezzo-soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, Lieder, oratorio and other major religious works like masses and passions, and solos contained in symphonic literature...
as the Dyer's Wife. She continued to perform regularly at the Met up through the Spring of 1969 in smaller roles like the Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel and Annina in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
. Better offers came her way from the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
, and she made her first appearance with that company as the Reine de Chémakhâ in Le coq d'or
The Golden Cockerel
The Golden Cockerel is an opera in three acts, with short prologue and even shorter epilogue, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Its libretto, by Vladimir Belsky, derives from Alexander Pushkin's 1834 poem The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, which in turn is based on two chapters of Tales of the Alhambra by...
in 1969. She was to appear at that theatre many times through 1977, singing such roles as Violetta in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
(1975), the title heroine in La Belle Helene
La belle Hélène
La belle Hélène , opéra bouffe in three acts, is an operetta by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy...
(1976), and Minnie in La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
(1977) among others.
In 1974, Armstrong first appeared in Europe, as Micaëla in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
. The following year, she created a great sensation with her performance of Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
at the same theatre. Further performances in Europe followed, including Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
in Venice
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...
, and Elsa in the 1979 Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
's Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
, directed by her future husband, Götz Friedrich
Götz Friedrich
Götz Friedrich was a German opera and theatre director.He was a student and assistant of Walter Felsenstein at the Komische Oper Berlin in Berlin, where he went on to direct his early productions...
, which was later recorded and filmed. She also sang in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
(where she was to be a great favorite), Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Covent Garden (Lulu, which Robert Craft
Robert Craft
Robert Lawson Craft is an American conductor and writer. He is best known for his intimate working friendship with Igor Stravinsky, a relationship which resulted in a number of recordings and books.-Life:...
once declared was "accurately sung and perfectly enacted"), Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and the Bolshoi Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Armstrong has sung in several operatic world premieres, including Gottfried von Einem
Gottfried von Einem
Gottfried von Einem was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as by jazz. He also composed pieces for piano, violin and organ.-Biography:...
's Jesu Hochzeit (as Death), Giuseppe Sinopoli
Giuseppe Sinopoli
-Biography:Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervin and at Darmstadt, including being mentored in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen...
's Lou Salomé, Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
's Un re in ascolto
Un re in ascolto
Un re in ascolto is an opera by Luciano Berio, who also wrote the libretto. The libretto is based on an idea by Italo Calvino, incorporating excerpts from Friedrich Einsiedel and Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter's eighteenth century libretto on Shakespeare's The Tempest as well as W. H. Auden's The Sea...
, York Höller
York Höller
York Höller is a German composer and Professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik Köln.-Biography:Between 1963 and 1970 Höller studied at the Cologne Musikhochschule: composition with Joachim Blume and Bernd Alois Zimmermann, piano with Else Schmitz-Gohrand Alfons Kontarsky, and orchestral...
's Maître et Marguerite and Siegfried Matthus
Siegfried Matthus
Siegfried Matthus is a German composer and opera director living in Berlin and is one of Germany's most often performed contemporary composers.- Biography :Matthus attended secondary school in Rheinsberg, followed by studies at the Hochschule für Musik...
's Desdemona und ihre Schwestern. Other celebrated roles include those in Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
, Salome, Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
(as Giulietta), La voix humaine
La voix humaine
La voix humaine is a one-act opera for one character, with music by Francis Poulenc to a libretto by Jean Cocteau, based on his 1930 play. La voix humaine was first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Salle Favart in Paris on 6 February 1959...
, Lohengrin, Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
, Lulu
Lulu (opera)
Lulu is an opera by the composer Alban Berg. The libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora .-Composition history:...
, Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
, Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, Die tote Stadt
Die tote Stadt
Die tote Stadt is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The libretto is by the composer and Paul Schott , and is based on Bruges-la-Morte, a short novel by Georges Rodenbach.-Performance history:When Die tote Stadt had its premiere on December 4, 1920, Korngold was just 23...
, Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
, Erwartung
Erwartung
Erwartung , Op.17 is a one-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg to a libretto by Marie Pappenheim. Composed in 1909, it was not premiered until June 6, 1924 in Prague conducted by Alexander Zemlinsky with Marie Gutheil-Schoder as the soprano. The work takes the unusual form of a monologue for solo...
, Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
(as Sieglinde), Katya Kabanova, The Makropulos Case, Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, Mathis der Maler (as Ursula), Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
(as Venus, with René Kollo
René Kollo
René Kollo is a German tenor.-Biography:He was born René Kollodzieyski in Berlin and grew up in Wyk auf Föhr. He attended a photography school in Hamburg, although he had always been interested in music, particularly conducting. He did not begin to perform until the mid-50s...
) and Dialogues des Carmélites (as Mother Marie of the Incarnation).
In 1985, Armstrong was named a Kammersängerin in Stuttgart; in 1994, she received the title in Berlin.
In the 2009/2010 season (December/January), Armstrong sang the Old Lady in Bernstein's Candide, at the Flanders Opera; Larina in Tschaikowsky`s "Eugen Onegin", at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (March/April/May) as well as the Queen of Hearts in Unsunk Chin`s "Alice in Wonderland" at the Grand Teatre de Geneve (June).
Armstrong was married for many years to opera director Götz Friedrich
Götz Friedrich
Götz Friedrich was a German opera and theatre director.He was a student and assistant of Walter Felsenstein at the Komische Oper Berlin in Berlin, where he went on to direct his early productions...
. Their marriage ended upon Friedrich's death in 2000. The couple had one son together.
Discography
- Wagner: Lohengrin (Hofmann; Nelsson, 1982) [live] CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
- Menotti: Songs (Francesch, 1983) Etcetera
- Berio: Un re in ascolto (Adam; Maazel, 1984) [live] col legno
- Henze: The Bassarids (Riegel; Albrecht, 1986) koch schwann
- Landowski: Montségur (G.Quilico; Plasson, 1987) [live] Cybelia
- Zemlinsky: Lyric Symphony (Kusnjer; Gregor, 1987–88) SupraphonSupraphonSupraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...
Videography
- Verdi: Falstaff (Bacquier, Stilwell; Solti, Friedrich, 1978–79) Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
- Wagner: Lohengrin (Hofmann; Nelsson, Friedrich, 1982) [live] EuroArts
- "Richard-Wagner-Abend" [includes Wesendonck-Lieder and Liebestod] (Adam; Masur, 1988) [live] Kultur
External links
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYVvYuY7Bcc YouTube: Karan Armstrong in an excerpt from Lohengrin, with Peter Hofmann (1982).