Biography of Musica Bella Orchestra Guest Aram Tchobanian

Aram Tchobanian has performed in 20 languages throughout the United States and in Europe. He was recently heard on New York’s WBAI-FM in the world premiere of Ben Yarmolinsky’s The Constitution: A Secular Oratorio. Other recent performances include John Jacks in Yarmolinsky’s opera Blind Witness News, Florestan in Fidelio with the One World Symphony, Laca in Janacek’s Jenufa, and the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo. He has performed the world premieres of the Gregorian/Komitas Divine Liturgy at Boston’s Symphony Hall, Jakov Jakoulov’s Narek Strophes with the Bachanalia Festival Orchestra, Ben Yarmolinksy’s Alice, Yoav Gal’s operas The Dwarf and Venus in Furs, Marga Richter’s opera Riders to the Sea, Gal Ziv’s Tower of Babel at The Knitting Factory in New York City, Eric Schwartz’s When old corruption first begun. . . , and Gal Ziv’s I’yov and Roy Zu-arets’s Influx for the 92nd Street Y’s Music at Makor.       Aram was tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem with the Brooklyn Contemporary Chorus and both the tenor and bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Mass in B minor at the 2300-seat Lehman Center for the Performing Arts.       Upcoming projects include the world premiere of Martin Halpern’s opera Odysseus and Ajax at LaMama ETC, Strephon in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, and a recording of Marga Richter’s Riders to the Sea on the Leonarda label.       Aram has sung leading roles with Opera/Columbus, Whitewater Opera Company, Columbus Light Opera, and at the National Opera Association National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Orchestral appearances include the Columbus Symphony, the Armenian Festival Orchestra, the Lancaster Music Festival, the Foundation for Sacred Music and Art orchestras, and the New York Choral Symphony Society. A proponent of new music, Aram has performed with the New York-based groups Friends and Enemies of New Music, Forecast Music, and the Kivun Project. With these and other ensembles, he has premiered numerous operas, oratorios, and works for tenor and chamber ensemble.       With Musica Bella, Aram has sung the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Musica Bella’s June 17 and 18, 2006 production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Mozart and Salieri, both the tenor and baritone solos in Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” in January 2007, and in our Bach concert in September 2007, where we performed some of the duets from the B-Minor Mass. Right now he’s in rehearsal for our January 2008 presentations of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, for which he is our chorusmaster (and tenor soloist). Musica Bella concerts: June 17, 2006; June 18, 2006; January 20, 2007; January 21, 2007; September 8, 2007; September 9, 2007; January 26, 2008; January 27, 2008