ARMENIAN BARITONE QUALIFIES FOR PAVEL LISITSIAN COMPETITION FINAL
ARMENPRESS
Feb 6, 2008
MOSCOW, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS: An Armenian baritone singer Gevork
Hakobian has qualified for the final of an international competition
in Moscow dedicated to famous baritone opera singer Pavel Lisitsian.
Other qualifiers are Roman Burdenko and Alexei Shishlyar of Russia
and Liam Bonner of the USA.
Thirty-seven singers from 13 countries participated in the first and
second rounds of the competition.
Pavel Lisitsian was an outstanding Soviet baritone opera singer who
performed in the Bolshoi Opera, Moscow from 1940 until his retirement
from stage in 1966.
He was born into an Armenian family living in the Russian city of
Vladikavkaz, where his father was a mineworker. Pavel first worked
in diamond drilling, then as a welder apprentice hoping to follow
his father’s steps. He first began to sing in a church choir before
moving to Leningrad to study cello in 1930.
He was one of the few Soviet artists who were allowed to make
appearances outside the Soviet Union.
He sang at La Scala, at the Metropolitan Opera and in many other
European opera houses. As a recitalist he traveled more than 30
countries, including Indonesia, Austria, Sweden and Japan.
In the last 10 years of his career he concentrated on song- and
concert repertoire. He was a superb interpreter of Armenian folk
songs and one of the most popular singers of the Soviet Union.
Three of his four children became singers and his family joined him
to form the "Lisitsian Quartet."
Pavel Lisitsian was honored many times and received the title "People’s
Artist of the USSR."