SOPRANO’S ETHNICITY GIVES HER ROOTS FROM WHICH TO GROW AN EXOTIC SOUND
By Paul Horsley

Kansas City Star
/457270.html
Jan 24 2008
MO

Isabel Bayrakdarian is not just a globe-trotting soprano, she’s an
Armenian-Canadian and proud of it.

Her ethnic background is important enough to her that she mentions
it in her official bio. Because, she said, it’s an essential part of
understanding who she is as an artist and a person.

"My identity makes me feel unique because I can express and approach
music having had a completely different database of emotions and
experiences," said the Lebanese-born soprano, who immigrated with
her family to Canada at age 14.

"For about 2,000 years, our identity and our culture has been defined
by the duality of keeping our language alive and keeping our faith
alive. The Armenian language is unique: There is no other language
that you can say it’s related to."

As a result, even when she sings Mozart – as she did last season
in the Metropolitan Opera’s "The Magic Flute" – you should hear the
difference "because the approach or the sensitivity to a phrase is
instinctively different."

Critics and audiences have certainly heard the difference, and she’s
now one of the most sought-after lyric sopranos among us. On Saturday
at the Folly Theater, she joins a long line of great opera stars who
have sung recitals on the Harriman-Jewell Series.

She’ll be accompanied by her husband, New York-born composer and
pianist John Musto.

But there are other sides to the 30-something Bayrakdarian
(ba-rok-DAH-rian) than opera, most notably her interest in Armenian
folk and sacred music.

She first sought vocal training, in fact, so that she could be a better
singer in the Armenian church. The style of singing there is free and
flowing, almost cantorial, she said, with "gorgeous, soaring lines."

Perfect preparation, as it turned out, for a future opera singer. But
that was the last thing on her mind at the time. Things began to take
off during her college years, but her voice teacher still urged her
to have a backup plan.

She got a degree in biomedical engineering.

You mean, like, cloning?

"Yes, that’s right," she said with a laugh. So far she hasn’t had to
use her degree to support herself, but having it gives her a freedom
that she enjoys.

"You can’t imagine the times I’ve had the courage to say no to a role
because in my mind I had the confidence that I always had something
to fall back on. Mimi (in ‘La Boheme’) at 22 was not good for my
voice. It was empowering that I had something else."

Some of Bayrakdarian’s other sidelines are as interesting as her
opera career. It was her CD of Armenian hymns, "Joyous Light," that
captured the ear of Hollywood composer Howard Shore, who immediately
wanted to find out who she was.

"This is the voice I’ve been looking for," Shore said and sought
her out for the score of "The Two Towers," the second "Lord of the
Rings" film.

The silvery purity of Bayrakdarian’s voice makes the haunting song
"Evenstar" one of the score’s highlights.

Involvement with the film has brought the singer into contact with a
whole new audience, a phenomenon that was repeated when she sang on
a Grammy-nominated track for the electronica group Delerium.

"I still get fan mail from people who’ve never, ever been exposed to
opera," she said.

People see her name on Shore’s soundtrack or on Delerium’s "Nuages
du Monde." They Google it, follow the link to her Web site,
bayrakdarian.com, and then listen to the sample tracks.