Hripsime Aghakaryan
Pianist
Biography
People's Artist of the USSR, hero of socialist work Gohar Gasparyan was born in 1924 in Cairo to the music-loving family of Mikael and Arusyak Khachaturyan.
From the age of nine, she sang in the Armenian Church in Cairo. She received her primary education at the Galustyan National School in Cairo. Then she studied at the Cairo Academy of Music, in the classes of European masters Elise Feldman and Vincenzo Carro. She also studied with world-famous conductors Francesco Molinari and Huttel, who lived and worked in Cairo for about five years during the war. Gohar took piano lessons from Greek pianist Georges Temelis.
From 1940, while still studying at the conservatory, she gave lectures in Cairo. She sang on the Egyptian radio as a soloist. The management of the radio, as an exception, changed the radio regulations, according to which the soloists could be exclusively Muslims. In 1948 Gasparyan received an invitation from the La Scala Opera House in Milan, but she not only rejected the offer, but also repatriated to Armenia at the age of 24 in the same year.
Since 1949 she had been a soloist at the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Armenia. Her first performance at the Yerevan Opera was marked by the opera "Lakme". She played leading roles in 23 operas. Her repertoire included more than 500 compositions. She has performed in France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Hungary, Turkey, Japan, USA, Brazil, Uruguay, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, former Soviet republics and elsewhere. She has been applauded in world-famous theaters, including the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Grand Opéra in Paris, and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. She was called "Nightingale of Armenia". For many years she was accompanied by Eleonora Voskanyan, Levon Abrahamyan, as well as Harutyun Papazyan.
From 1962 to 2007 she taught at the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas (professor since 1973). Many of her students became soloists of the best world stages (Olga Zakaryan, Rafael Hakobyants, Davit Varzhapetyan, Ellada Chakhoyan, Shake Aschyan, Gayane Grigoryan, Varduhi Khachatryan, Varduhi Abrahamyan, etc.). One of her students was her future husband - opera singer, director, and actor Tigran Levonyan. She was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR three times - the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR.
From the age of nine, she sang in the Armenian Church in Cairo. She received her primary education at the Galustyan National School in Cairo. Then she studied at the Cairo Academy of Music, in the classes of European masters Elise Feldman and Vincenzo Carro. She also studied with world-famous conductors Francesco Molinari and Huttel, who lived and worked in Cairo for about five years during the war. Gohar took piano lessons from Greek pianist Georges Temelis.
From 1940, while still studying at the conservatory, she gave lectures in Cairo. She sang on the Egyptian radio as a soloist. The management of the radio, as an exception, changed the radio regulations, according to which the soloists could be exclusively Muslims. In 1948 Gasparyan received an invitation from the La Scala Opera House in Milan, but she not only rejected the offer, but also repatriated to Armenia at the age of 24 in the same year.
Since 1949 she had been a soloist at the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Armenia. Her first performance at the Yerevan Opera was marked by the opera "Lakme". She played leading roles in 23 operas. Her repertoire included more than 500 compositions. She has performed in France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Hungary, Turkey, Japan, USA, Brazil, Uruguay, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, former Soviet republics and elsewhere. She has been applauded in world-famous theaters, including the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Grand Opéra in Paris, and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. She was called "Nightingale of Armenia". For many years she was accompanied by Eleonora Voskanyan, Levon Abrahamyan, as well as Harutyun Papazyan.
From 1962 to 2007 she taught at the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas (professor since 1973). Many of her students became soloists of the best world stages (Olga Zakaryan, Rafael Hakobyants, Davit Varzhapetyan, Ellada Chakhoyan, Shake Aschyan, Gayane Grigoryan, Varduhi Khachatryan, Varduhi Abrahamyan, etc.). One of her students was her future husband - opera singer, director, and actor Tigran Levonyan. She was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR three times - the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR.
