BOSTON — Internationally renowned soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, joined by musicians Ellie Choate (harp), Rayo Furuta (flute) and Mher Mnatsakanyan (duduk), will perform at a concert titled “Ancestral Songs, Prayers & Lullabies,” at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 15, at the Scottish Rite Museum and Library in Lexington.
Featuring a curated selection of music, the performance celebrates Armenian cultural heritage and artistic expression through music. The program includes works by Komitas Vartabed and Mihran Tumajan, with pieces ranging from medieval hymns and Marian chants to traditional children’s songs and lullabies from historical Armenia.
Born in Lebanon and raised in Canada, Bayrakdarian is a celebrated musician in both the classical and music worlds, first winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions within months of graduating from the University of Toronto, cum laude, in biomechanical engineering.
Appearing with premier orchestras from Boston to New York to Vienna under the batons of such legendary conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Christopher Eschenbach, her artistic and musical versatility ranges from premiere operatic roles to featured vocal performances on Grammy Award-winning soundtrack of a blockbuster film “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” on the soundtrack of Atom Egoyan’s award-winning “Ararat” and on the BBC-produced documentary “HOLOCAUST – A music Memorial Film.”
She also starred in a Gemini-nominated film, “Long Journey Home,” which documented her first visit to Armenia. The winner of numerous additional prestigious awards, including four consecutive Juno Awards, a Marilyn Horne Foundation Award, and Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee Medals, among others, Bayrakdarian has also received the Republic of Armenia’s highest cultural award, the Movses Khorenatsi Medal, and holds an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Conservatory of Music and an Honorary Doctorate from Canada’s Wilfrid Laurier University.
A passionate advocate for preserving and sharing her cultural heritage through music, Bayrakdarian is a professor of voice and head of the voice area and Opera Outreach Program at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB).
