Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian has caused an international stir since her sudden debut at the Royal Opera House in 2013, when she replaced star soprano Anja Harteros as Elisabetta in Don Carlo. Earning rave reviews, she has quickly established herself as one of the world's premiere lyrico spintos, making major company debuts everywhere from Zurich to Sydney. Ms. Haroutounian has just concluded an acclaimed run as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra with Placido Domingo and James Levine, but she managed to meet with us to speak about her training, repertoire, and her opportunity to now work with the very artists who inspired her.
Special thanks to Nina Manoukian for translating. In addition, many thanks to the Metropolitan Opera's Press department and to the Met's Ed Hartley for engineering this interview at the Met. This interview was conducting at the Metropolitan Opera on April 12, 2016.