Selected by The Times as “The Face to Watch in Opera 2020” and by Der Theaterverlag as one of the outstanding artists of 2020, British-Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannisyan began her career as a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She is the winner of First and Public Prizes, Deutsche Grammophon and Royal Danish Opera Special Prizes at Stella Maris Competition, the winner of the Ernst Haefliger International Swiss Competition and represented Armenia at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2017.

 

Nominated for the International Opera Awards, she made a highly acclaimed debut with Scottish Opera as Violetta La traviata, which saw Opera Magazine writing, “(she) has the coloratura, the musical intelligence, the rock-solid technique, the evenness throughout an ample vocal range, the dramatic versatility, the imposing but graceful physique – and indeed the pathos” and The Sunday Times acclaiming “a ‘star is born’ moment.”

 

She portrayed the role of Violetta La traviata for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Israeli Opera and Royal Danish Opera, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera. Recent highlights include a return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Musetta La bohème, and her role debut as Mimi La bohème at the Welsh National Opera, Emma Khovanschina with Opéra National de Paris, Parasha Mavra for Scottish Opera, Tatyana Eugene Onegin for Opera Holland Park, Leonora Oberto for Chelsea Opera Group and Liza Queen of Spades at The Grange Festival.

 

Anush performed with renowned conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Paolo Carignani, Dan Ettinger, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Koen Kessels, Nicola Luisotti, Daniel Oren, Carlo Rizzi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Antonio Pappano.

 

Now based in London, Anush began studying violin at age six at A. Spendiaryan specialised music school in Armenia and went on to study singing at the Yerevan State Conservatory and at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She is a Samling Artist, and her many awards and scholarships further include the Clonter Opera Prize, the Bayreuth Prize from the Wagner Society of Scotland, the Karaviotis Prize at the Les Azuriales International Singing Competition and the Ian Smith of Stornoway Award for Opera awarded by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

 

Her recordings and broadcasts include Shostakovich Symphony No. 14 with the Southbank Sinfonia and Emma Khovanschina with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC Radio 3), Decades – A Century of Song, Vols 2 and 4 for Vivat CD, Rimsky-Korsakov Romances for Stone Records (a Sunday Times ‘Album of the Week’), Songs by Scriabin for Decca’s complete piano anthology of his music, BBC Radio 3’s Big Chamber Day and The Royal Ballet’s Woolf Works, now available on Opus Arte DVD.

 

She is a keen advocate and mentor of young musicians, she is a Member of the Board of the National Student Opera Society and the Patron of Opera Caledonia.