Tenor Liparit Avetisyan Stands atop the Opera World

Initially, there was one difficulty in Armenia. As he was only 3 when he left Armenia with his family, he spoke Armenian but unlike his older brother and sister, who continued to visit Armenia’s schools over the years, he did not know how to read or write. At the same time, in Crimea, he said, “We created our little Armenia in our home. There were Armenian families in our circles. We had contact with our traditions and culture. We preserved everything as if we lived in our homeland, in our Armenia. So for that reason, I could speak. In fact, when I came from Moscow to Armenia, they all were amazed how this boy, who has not lived in Armenia throughout his whole life, speaks Armenian so well.”

Soon enough though, Avetisyan learned how to read and write Armenian too, and in Armenia, he began to enter and win music competitions and perform in operas.

On International Stages

He began to come to international notice and began to perform in Russia, Germany and various other European stages from 2016. After his debut in Cologne, he soon appeared at world renowned stages such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Berlin State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zürich Opera, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Opera Australia, Semperoper Dresden and Hamburg State Opera.

He began to constantly traveling and performing in opera houses in various parts of the world. Each country has its own season for opera. If the Metropolitan Opera in New York closes in early June, in Europe the season might continue till July. Secondly, during the summer, while all opera houses are closed, there are festivals in Europe. This means Avetisyan is working practically nonstop all year round.

When asked about his favorite places to perform, Avetisyan diplomatically replied: “For me, as an artist each stage is a sacred place and the most important place at the moment if I am standing there. Of course, if you are in this field, then there are historical serious places which have great influence, in which you must play a role.”

Though he has already performed on most of the important stages in Europe and America, he said “of course there are still theaters where I have not performed, because the number of such places is so great that I think that an entire lifetime is not sufficient to participate and sing in all of them.” He observed that, for example, he has sung very little in Italy, due to organizational and financial issues, but hopes to work it out so that he will gradually have more performances there. He already has scheduled a role in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” in Teatro Regio di Parma — the Parma Opera House — for next season.

He found that his experiences in the different countries he performs in tend to be similar. He said, “Generally, our classical world is very much alike. The music is the same and nearly all the people who are involved with classical music are very like one another in their ways of thinking and their ways of perceiving life.” However, he did observe that in Germany or the US, they keep performers busy with schedules and are always watching the clock, while in Italy or Spain, everything is more relaxed and comfortable.

Moreover, countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland like to do modern opera stagings, whereas in Italy they preserve the classic style of productions for the most part..

Avetisyan has something of a mystical conception of what artists like himself do. He declared: “I believe when each artist transforms into different roles and lives the full life and story of that character, whether or not he wants it, he leaves a piece of his soul there. Consequently, I feel this same sensation when I step onto a historical stage and understand what artists have created and performed there and submitted their connection with the universe. It is a magical thing and very pleasant.”

Armenia and Life-Work Balance

When Avetisyan first came to Armenia, though his parents and siblings remained in Crimea, he had relatives in Yerevan on both sides of his family. Avetisyan then got married and his first son was born in Armenia in 2014. Avetisyan’s mother came that spring to help his wife, while his father periodically visited. Avetisyan had two more children later.

He said, “The heaviest and most difficult part of our profession is that we travel a lot, and everything becomes complicated when children reach the age that they begin school. Before it was much easier. We were very often together and we could travel together. Now, the three boys are all school age, so we are restricted somewhat in our desires. We have to work with the school system.”

For example, at the start of this summer, he related that he had not been in Armenia since October of the prior year. It is difficult for him to travel for short periods to Armenia because there are not many direct flights and his time is very limited. He pointed out that if he has three free days and spends one day traveling, he needs to rest after such a trip so that he is in shape to sing properly. Instead, he arranged for the children and his wife to travel to Greece or other parts of Europe for various holidays and vacations.

“For three years now, I have not had a break, even in the summers. For this reason, I asked my manager this year not to find anything for me in the summer so I will have three months with my children to relax. Of course, relaxation sounds a little wrong, because I have so many new roles to learn that it is not really resting. Nevertheless I will be with the children and this is important,” Avetisyan said.

While he does not give many performances in Armenia, he and his manager attempt to arrange at least two or three a year. This June, for example, he presented a big concert show called “Liparit and Friends” with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sergey Smbatyan, and Armenian pop (estradayin) stars.

He explained: “I am a man who loves to do experiments … that concert has a beautiful idea, that we bring together the two poles of classical and pop music. I wish to show the public that we have pop singers of a very high level, estradayin singers. … They can perform in a very appropriate and beautiful way next to classical artists and a symphonic orchestra, and in no way be inferior to those artists.”

The musical arrangements or instrumentations were done by Martin Ulukhanyan. Avetisyan said, “We practically have created new works from zero. We take a given pop artist’s hit, and based on that hit, a separate line is written for me, and that turns into a duet. One part of the concert is their pop songs with me, and the second part of the concert is classical music or classical duets with the pop singers — that is, now they come to my world.”

Training and Roles

Voice training and preservation, Avetisyan said, is a very individual practice and each artist has a different approach. He said, “We cannot forget that first of all it is our musical instrument, which, among other things, is connected to our mental health, our physical health and our essence. Voice is a very interesting thing. God has given to each person the possibility of having voice, and I can say one thing: you must be very careful and respectful about your voice and yourself in general, because you and your entire body is your musical instrument.”

That means, he said, that “you must cherish, love and behave with great respect with your voice. Do not talk too much. For me, the most important thing is to sleep at least 8 hours a day. It is important not to laugh loudly, not to get upset.” In this fashion, he said, his voice, which is his musical instrument, can be precisely “strung” or set, after which comes the technique which singers forge over many years.

As a whole, operas take roughly six weeks to prepare for a new production and perhaps three or four for revivals, Avetisyan said, while for individual performers like himself, if he had already have learned and memorized the role earlier, all he has to do is repeat it on the airplane on the way to the location. However, if he needs to learn the role from scratch, he said it would depend on the nature of the role, especially the length and the language. Some can be learned as quickly as in two weeks while others need a month.

Singers, he said, “live as sportsmen. We always practice. We always try to find new things in every role. That comes both from emotions and from the nature of the role or character. We are always seeking and finding new things.”

He said that he discusses with his manager what roles are better for his physiology and age. “Fortunately,” he said, “my voice is spinto [a tenor voice of powerful dramatic quality with a weight between lyric and dramatic]. I am not a lyric tenor. In other words, with age, my repertoire will continue to broaden and increase.”

He remarked that for over 10 years he primarily sang bel canto or lyric roles, which correspond to his physiological age and do not harm his voice, but slowly now, he is doing more spinto roles as he grows older. In the forthcoming opera seasons, he has two big debuts that are more spinto, Don Carlo in Giuseppi Verdi’s eponymous opera, and Simon Boccanegra, again in an opera of the same name by Verdi.

As for which roles he loves, he responded succinctly: “All the roles that I do, in the operas in which I participate, become beloved for me because it is not possible otherwise. … When you create that role, you become a part of that story. It does not matter if it is a positive or negative figure, or if you as an artist are in agreement with the way of thinking or acts of that character. That role becomes dear to you because you begin to relive the emotions of that character. You try to relive his way of thinking.”

He added: “As far as Armenian music goes, it has always been very dear to me and pleasant. I dreamed of singing Saro in the opera “Anoush” and had the good fortune of making my debut as Saro in 2013 in our National Theater. I can say one thing: I used to sing with my father our folk songs, old romantic songs, and I understood always that whatever I do the Armenian always lies at its core.”

He observed that there are around 35 Armenian artists in classical opera around the world, if not more working in good venues, and when these Armenian surnames ring out, it is a great source of pride. He said often Armenian sopranos appear in productions with him, and these turn into some of his most beloved projects.

Discography

Avetisyan can be heard on a number of CDs or DVDs, including recordings of operas such as Verdi’s Otello, in which he plays Cassio, with Antonio Pappano as conductor (Sony, 2020, Cat: 19439707932); Verdi’s Rigoletto, in which he plays the Duke of Mantua, with Antonio Pappano as conductor and recorded at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London (Opus Arte DVD, 2022), and Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, in which Avetisyan plays Nemorino, with Sesto Quatrini as conductor at the Royal Opera House in London (Opus Arte DVD, 2024).

Avetisyan released his first solo album in 2025: “Beloved Arias” with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra conducted by Constantine Orbelian (Delos).

The recording of operas is usually done live, Avetisyan explained. During the performance, microphones are set up in various places in addition to cameras. While it is possible to first record both live video and audio, on rare occasions a second recording on another day is done of audio in case there are any minor slip-ups or extraneous noises. For example, sometimes singers clear their throat. However, Avetisyan noted that most of the time, no one wants to pay for this extra work. A section would have to be removed from the second recording and mastered and attached to the video, which is tremendously time consuming and costly.

Avetisyan said he loves Armenian spiritual music and declared: “I go crazy over it. It is so simple and complicated at the same time.” Therefore, he is preparing a solo CD for which he has already recorded five pieces that he will release himself, without a label. Due to his busy schedule, it is the third year that he has come to a studio in Armenia to do recordings for it, often with Vahe Begoyan’s choir. He said he plans to record seven or eight more pieces, either a Capello or with an organ.