The story of the Venetian Moor Othello, who drowned Desdemona out of jealousy, is 400 years old. People know that “Othello” is one of Shakespeare’s most famous works, and Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Othello” premiered in February 1887 at La Scala in Milan. The libretto was written by Arrigo Boito based on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. Jealousy in Armenia is also typical of Armenian men, some of them are figuratively called “Othello” for it. The other day, “Othello” drowned “Desdemona” once again.
We are talking about the glorious concert performance of “Othello” held at the Aram Khachatryan concert hall, which was received with exceptional warmth. The audience applauded for a long time, there was a flurry of bravos, many expressed their admiration and satisfaction even by stomping their feet, something that is usually characteristic of jazz and rock concerts in particular.
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The Armenian listeners enjoyed Verdi’s “Othello” with the performance of the opera “Othello,” where Arsen Soghomyan performed the role of Othello, Liana Aleksanyan played Desdemona, and Iago Vladislav played Sulimsky. The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia (artistic director and chief conductor: Eduard Topchyan), the National Academic of Armenia (artistic director: Hovhannes Chekijian) and the Yerevan Voice Preservation Vocal-Choir Vocational School (choirmaster: Emma Arakelyan) contributed to the creation of the environment with exceptional professionalism. Due to this harmonious cooperation, and, of course, maestro Eduard Topchyan’s meticulousness, the opera atmosphere was fully ensured.
Let us add that tenor Arsen Soghomonyan performed the role of Othello about 25 times in the world’s best opera houses, and Liana Aleksanyan is one of the brightest sopranos of her generation. The geography of Aleksanyan’s brilliant performances includes La Scala in Milan, Colon in Buenos Aires, the best opera houses and concert halls in Italy, Germany, China and South Korea.
By the way, it was announced before the concert that Liana Aleksanyan was in poor health, but this did not affect her high-quality performance at all. Yerevan’s “Othello” was also notable because 2009 GRAMMY Awards contender, laureate of many international competitions, and baritone Vladislav Sulimsky played Iago. He is especially famous for his performances of the most complex roles of Verdi’s dramatic baritone.
Let’s not forget to mention other opera singers who performed brilliantly: mezzo-soprano Bella Amaryan (Iago’s Lady), tenors Tigran Hakobyan (Cassio), Hayk Tonguryan (Rodrigo), bass Hayk Tigranyan (Lodovico), baritone Ashot Ghantarjian (Montano).
Gohar HAKOBYAN
