ISABEL BAIRAKDARIAN TO PERFORM AT ART SONG FESTIVAL IN OHIO

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.03.2009 19:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Canadian singer of Armenian heritage, Isabelle
Bayrakdaryan will perform at Art Song Festival due on Mar. 20 in
Ohio. Isabelle will offer selections by Shubert, Bellini, Berlios,
Ravel to the accompaniment of pianist Serge Karagyan.

Isabelle will also present Armenian folk songs edited by Komitas. "I
will sing the sons of my forefathers like they were performed in old
times. Though born in Lebanon, I was raised in an atmosphere imbued
with the Armenian language and culture," the signer said.

Born in Lebanon of proud Armenian heritage and now a citizen of Canada,
Ms. Bayrakdarian moved with her family to Toronto as a teenager. Her
earliest singing experience was at church, which remains – along with
her family – the central focus of her life. She holds an honors degree
in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Ms. Bayrakdarian has received many grants and other awards in
addition to the First Prize in the Operalia: four Juno awards, the
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, the 2005 Virginia Parker
Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Leonie Rysanek Award
from the George London Foundation, and a Metropolitan Opera National
Council Award in 1997.