Karan Armstrong

: "This article is about the opera singer. For the author, please see Karen Armstrong."Karan Armstrong (born December 14, 1941, in Havre, Montana) is an American soprano. Originally trained as a pianist, she graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College in 1963. She later studied with Lotte Lehmann. She made her operatic debut in San Francisco, as Musetta in "La bohème", in 1965. Having won the National Council of the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions, she debuted with the Met in a small role in "Die Frau ohne Schatten", in 1967. Following other similar parts with the Met, she moved on to the New York City Opera, first appearing as the Reine de Chémakhâ in "Le coq d'or" in 1969. She was to appear at that theatre many times through 1977.

In 1974, Armstrong first appeared in Europe, as Micaëla in "Carmen", at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg. The following year, she created a great sensation with her performance of "Salome" at the same theatre. Further performances on the Continent followed, including "Tosca" in Venice, and a definitive Elsa in the 1979 Bayreuth Festival's "Lohengrin", directed by her future husband, Götz Friedrich, which was later recorded and filmed. She also sang in Berlin (where she was to be a great favorite), Vienna, Paris, Covent Garden ("Lulu", which Robert Craft once declared was "accurately sung and perfectly enacted" ["An Improbable Life", by Robert Craft, Vanderbilt University Press, 2002] ), Los Angeles, and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Armstrong has sung in several operatic world premieres, including Einem's "Jesu Hochzeit" (as Death), Sinopoli's "Lou Salomé", Berio's "Un re in ascolto", Höller's "Maître et Marguerite" and Matthus's "Desdemona und ihre Schwestern". Other celebrated roles include those in "Susannah", "Salome", "Les contes d'Hoffmann" (as Giulietta), "La voix humaine", "Lohengrin", "Pelléas et Mélisande", "Lulu", "Wozzeck", "Der Rosenkavalier", "Die tote Stadt", "Parsifal", "Erwartung", "Die Walküre" (as Sieglinde), "Katya Kabanova", "The Makropulos Case", "Fidelio", "Mathis der Maler" (as Ursula), "Tannhäuser" (as Venus, with René Kollo) and "Dialogues des Carmélites" (as Mother Marie of the Incarnation).

In 1985, Armstrong was named a "Kammersängerin" in Stuttgart; in 1994, she received the title in Berlin. She has a son from her marriage to Friedrich. [cite news | title=Gotz Friedrich, 70, Longtime Chief Of Prestigious Berlin Opera House | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07EED91F3FF936A25751C1A9669C8B63 | work=New York Times | date=15 December 2000 | accessdate=2008-03-25]

Discography

* Wagner: "Lohengrin" (Hofmann; Nelsson, 1982) [live] CBS
* Menotti: Songs (Francesch, 1983) Etcetera
* Berio: "Un re in ascolto" (Adam; Maazel, 1984) [live] col legno
* Henze: "The Bassarids" (Riegel; Albrecht, 1986) koch schwann
* Landowski: "Montségur" (G.Quilico; Plasson, 1987) [live] Cybelia
* Zemlinsky: "Lyric Symphony" (Kusnjer; Gregor, 1987-88) Supraphon

Videography

* Verdi: "Falstaff" (Bacquier, Stilwell; Solti, Friedrich, 1979)
* Wagner: "Lohengrin" (Hofmann; Nelsson, Friedrich, 1982) [live]
* "Richard-Wagner-Abend" [includes "Wesendonck-Lieder" and Liebestod] (Adam; Masur, 1988) [live]

References

Bibliography

* "Karan Armstrong: Das Mädchen aus dem goldenen Westen", by Ruth Renée Reif, Langen Müller, 1996. ISBN 3-7844-2563-1
* "The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia", edited by David Hamilton, Simon and Schuster, 1987. ISBN 0-671-61732-X

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYVvYuY7Bcc] YouTube: Karan Armstrong in an excerpt from "Lohengrin", with Peter Hofmann (1982).