Famous soprano Lucine Amara
ORIGINAL ARTICLE BY HENRIK ANASSIAN
TRANSLATED BY AREVIG CAPRIELIAN
NEW YORK — On March the 2, 2015, notable musicians, musicologists and artists from nearby states gathered in New York city to celebrate in splendid setting the 90th birthday of Lucine Amara, the sublime Armenian singer, the treasured diva of the Metropolitan Opera. Among other revered luminaries, the world-renowned French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour (age 92) was also in attendance.
Amara appeared on the stage of globally acclaimed Metropolitan Opera in 882 productions, depicting 56 roles in choice repertoire of international art of opera, which have often been broadcasted by radio and television. Amara is the only singer in the world who has sang at the same opera house for over 40 years, not to count her performances for the television and radio, recordings and participation in films.
Amara has performed the principal roles in G. Bizet’s Carmen, G. Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and La Boheme, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, J. Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann (Les Contes D’Hoffmann), W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, R. Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, G. Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Aida, to name just a few.
For the past 20 years, she has been the artistic director of the New Jersey Association of Verismo, where talented young vocalists develop their art under her immediate attention and guidance.
Lucine (Tagouhie, meaning a queen in Armenian) Armaghanian-Amara is the daughter of Adrine and Georg Armaghanian, survivors of Armenian Genocide of 1915. To the question regarding the altering of her name, L. Amara replied: Lucine is the moon [in Armenian], as you know it, “armaghanâ€
