The Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg will dedicate The Queen of Spades performance to the memory of opera singer, People’s Artist of Armenia Gegham Grigoryan (1951-2016).
Valery Gergiev timed the performance to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the singer’s birth, the press service of the theater reported.
“Gegham Grigoryan was invited to the Leningrad stage in the late 1980s. As a leading soloist, Grigoryan was engaged in most of the opera premieres of the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theater, went on tour and took part in the recording of the operas The Queen of Spades, Sadko, Iolanta, Prince Igor, War and Peace, The Power of Destiny. The performances of Gegham Grigoryan as Herman in The Queen of Spades are memorable for the St. Petersburg audience,” said the press service.
The part of Lisa in the performance will be performed by the singer’s daughter Asmik Grigorian, who has already sung at the Mariinsky. A major achievement in her career was her performance in the Salzburg production of Richard Strauss’s Salome at the 2018 Festival. For this work, the International Opera Prize and the German magazine Opernwelt awarded her the title of “Singer of the Year.” Tenor Nazhmiddin Mavlyanov, whose repertoire at the Mariinsky Theater includes a dozen roles, will perform as Herman.
