Voices of Armenia

The Armenian Institute is proud to invite you to the launch of newly recorded performances of classical songs by acclaimed Armenian opera singers, soprano Anush Hovhannisyan and baritone Grisha Martirosyan, associated with the Royal Ballet & Opera in London. Last March, they performed for a special filming project, seeking to capture live sound during the filming. This difficult endeavour is a very rare occurrence in films about music of any genre, yet worthwhile in order to capture the special moments of the live performance without the usually heavy studio editing.
Come and delight in the viewing of Anush Hovhannisyan singing Tre Sonetti di Petrarca (The Three Petrarch Sonnets) by Franz Liszt and of Grisha Martirosyan interpreting Reconciliation by P.I. Tchaikovsky, all accompanied by acclaimed pianist Sergey Rybin.
The premiere screening of the films will be followed by a unique opportunity to exchange with Anush and Grisha, who will talk and answer audience questions. Through these accomplished artists, learn more about the lively and unique opera tradition in Armenia and their life as international singers before we gather around a celebratory drink.
This event is part of Heritage of Displacement: Oral Histories from the UK Armenian Communities (2023–2026), funded by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, thanks to National Lottery players.

Photo credit: ©Torosyan Photography for Grisha Martirosyan and ©Koloyan for Anush Hovhannisyan.

About Anush Hovhannisyan

Described by Opera Now as ‘the future of opera,’ British-Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannisyan began her career as a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 2020 she was selected by The Times as “The Face to Watch in Opera 2020” and by Der Theaterverlag as one of the outstanding artists of 2020. She was nominated for the International Opera Awards.

Anush is the winner of First and Public Prizes, Deutsche Grammophon and Royal Danish Opera Special Prizes at the Stella Maris Competition, the winner of the Ernst Haefliger International Swiss Competition and represented Armenia at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2017.

She performed the role of Violetta in La traviata for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Israeli Opera and Royal Danish Opera, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera. She returned to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Musetta in La bohème, and made her role debut as Mimi in La bohème at the Welsh National Opera. Recent debuts also include Emma in Khovanschina for Opéra National de Paris, Parasha in Mavra for Scottish Opera, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin for Opera Holland Park, Leonora in Oberto and Lucrezia in I Due Foscari for Chelsea Opera Group, Liza in Queen of Spades at The Grange Festival. 

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

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, on Opus Arte DVD. 

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About Grisha Martirosyan

Armenian baritone Grisha Martirosyan is a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for the 2023/25 seasons. His roles for The Royal Opera this season include Baron Douphol in La traviata, Hermann & Schlemil in Les Contes D’Hoffmann, Moralès in Carmen and the title role in Pimpinone at the Linbury Theatre. 

He won the First, Audience and numerous special prizes at the Virgilijus Noreika International Singing Competition in Lithuania in 2023, the First, Audience and the Joan Sutherland special prize at the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in Ireland in 2022, and the second and audience prizes at the Magda Olivero International Singing Competition in Italy in 2022. Grisha was awarded the First prize at the Gohar Gasparian National Singing Competition in Armenia in 2019. 

Grisha made his Salzburg Festival debut in Verdi’s Macbeth as a member of the Salzburg Young Singers Project in the summer of 2023.  He is a graduate of the Yerevan State Conservatory, where his roles included the title role in Eugene Onegin, Sergeant Belcore in L'elisir d'amore, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Giorgio Germont in La traviata and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor. He spent a term at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on the Erasmus Exchange+ programme and was a member of the Mascarade Emerging Artists Programme in Florence. 

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Armenian Institute, 1 Onslow Street, London, United Kingdom