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LILI CHOOKASIAN: REVERED AMERICAN CONTRALTO WHOSE CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH THE METROPOLITAN OPERA SPANNED NEARLY 25 YEARS AND 300 PERFORMANCES
The Times
April 26, 2012 Thursday
London
Operatic voices of truly heroic scale are seldom encountered these
days. For three decades opera's most prominent exponent of mainstream
contralto roles was Lili Chookasian, possessor of a lusciously
dark, deep, thrillingly ample instrument. Enhanced by impeccable
musicianship and a vivid personality, Chookasian's voice made her
a longtime favourite at the Metropolitan Opera and an enormously
acclaimed performer with major orchestras.
A first-generation American, she was the daughter of a couple who had
emigrated from Armenia six years before she was born in Chicago (her
pride in her Armenian heritage was passionate and lifelong). Having
done a good deal of singing in high school, Chookasian studied with
Philip Manuel and established herself in her twenties as a concert
and oratorio singer. Such an outstanding voice did not go unnoticed by
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with whom Chookasian made an indelible
impression in Mahler's Symphony No 2 under Bruno Walter in 1955.
Her marriage and growing family kept Chookasian away from opera until
1959 when, aged 38, she made her stage debut as Adalgisa in Norma at
Arkansas State Opera. Shortly thereafter she began coaching with the
celebrated Rosa Ponselle, who arranged for her to sing first Azucena in
Il trovatore and then Amneris in Aïda at the Baltimore Opera. She made
a stunning New York Philharmonic debut in 1961 singing in Prokofiev's
Alexander Nevksy. Conducting was Thomas Schippers, who brought her
to Italy that summer to perform the same work at the Spoleto Festival.
Chookasian's first invitation to appear at the Met came at a time when
she was unwilling to be parted from her family for an extended period.
Once a Met engagement became more manageable for her, she made her
debut in 1962 as La Cieca in La Gioconda.
That success initiated an association with the company that endured for
24 seasons in 28 roles, encompassing most principal and supporting
parts available to a contralto in the standard repertoire. To
be expected were the mothers, grandmothers, maids and nurses (for
example, in La sonnambula, Cavalleria rusticana, Hansel and Gretel,
Les contes d'Hoffmann, Eugene Onegin, Boris Godunov and Jenufa).
Substantially more rewarding roles included Wagner's Erda (Ring
cycle), the three contralto roles in Puccini's Il Trittico, Madelon in
Andrea Chenier, and Leocadia Begbick in Rise and Fall of the City of
Mahagonny. Of the dramatic Verdi roles in Chookasian's stage repertoire
(she was a superb interpreter of all three), she sang Ulrica 14 times
with the Met, but Azucena came her way on just four occasions there
and Amneris only once. She sang Death in Stravinsky's The Nightingale
(Met premiere), was gloriously hearty as Auntie in Peter Grimes, and
shone in such comic parts as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff and the
Maharanee in Menotti's The Last Savage (US premiere).Her 290th and
final Met performance (indeed, her last appearance onstage in opera)
was as Gertrude in Romeo et Juliette on February 17, 1986.
Chookasian was also successful at New York City Opera and the leading
companies of Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans, Houston, Cincinnati,
and Montreal. She returned to Baltimore Opera in 1976 as the Queen
in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's Ines de Castro.
With a busy family life, plus her commitments with American opera
companies and orchestras, it was inevitable that Europe would play
a secondary role in Chookasian's activities. Besides Spoleto,
she appeared at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, as well as
the Zurich Opernhaus. Particularly meaningful for her was the
opportunity to perform in Yerevan, where she was heard in Aïda and
Dikran Tchouhadjian's opera Arshak II.
A supremely eloquent concert artist, Chookasian sang all the music one
would expect of her voice type, with particular success in the Verdi
Requiem, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, and major works of Mahler. She
was heard with the leading orchestras of New York, Philadelphia,
Cleveland, London, and Vienna, among many others.
In Chookasian's commercial discography the highlight is surely her
deeply moving performance in Alexander Nevsky with Schippers and
the New York Philharmonic. She sings under Leinsdorf in the Verdi
Requiem and Menotti's rarely heard cantata The Death of the Bishop of
Brindisi. Her interpretation of Das Lied von der Erde is documented
in performances led by Susskind and Ormandy (with the latter she also
recorded Beethoven's Symphony No 9). She participates in Bernstein's
recordings of both Mahler's Symphony No 8 and Vaughan Williams's
Serenade to Music. No doubt Chookasian took particular pleasure in
recording two works by the Armenian-American composer Richard Yardumian
- Come Creator Spirit (subtitled "A New Mass in English") and Symphony
No 2. Several "pirated" performances demonstrate the excellence of
Chookasian's Wagner and Verdi roles (including a magnificent Amneris
in Montreal in 1965) and her Met portrayals in Der fliegende Hollander,
Eugene Onegin and The Last Savage.
Having taught at Northwestern University earlier in her career,
Chookasian joined the voice faculty at Yale University in 1985.
Seventeen years later Yale's School of Music presented her with its
highest honour, the Sanford Medal. She was made Professor Emerita
in 2010.
Chookasian was remarkably courageous, having triumphed over serious
illness: her initial bout of breast cancer occurred in 1956, her
second five years later.
She was married to George Gavejian from 1941 until his death in 1987,
and is survived by two sons and a daughter.
Lili Chookasian, operatic contralto, was born on August 1, 1921. She
died on April 10, 2012, aged 90
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
The Times
April 26, 2012 Thursday
London
Operatic voices of truly heroic scale are seldom encountered these
days. For three decades opera's most prominent exponent of mainstream
contralto roles was Lili Chookasian, possessor of a lusciously
dark, deep, thrillingly ample instrument. Enhanced by impeccable
musicianship and a vivid personality, Chookasian's voice made her
a longtime favourite at the Metropolitan Opera and an enormously
acclaimed performer with major orchestras.
A first-generation American, she was the daughter of a couple who had
emigrated from Armenia six years before she was born in Chicago (her
pride in her Armenian heritage was passionate and lifelong). Having
done a good deal of singing in high school, Chookasian studied with
Philip Manuel and established herself in her twenties as a concert
and oratorio singer. Such an outstanding voice did not go unnoticed by
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with whom Chookasian made an indelible
impression in Mahler's Symphony No 2 under Bruno Walter in 1955.
Her marriage and growing family kept Chookasian away from opera until
1959 when, aged 38, she made her stage debut as Adalgisa in Norma at
Arkansas State Opera. Shortly thereafter she began coaching with the
celebrated Rosa Ponselle, who arranged for her to sing first Azucena in
Il trovatore and then Amneris in Aïda at the Baltimore Opera. She made
a stunning New York Philharmonic debut in 1961 singing in Prokofiev's
Alexander Nevksy. Conducting was Thomas Schippers, who brought her
to Italy that summer to perform the same work at the Spoleto Festival.
Chookasian's first invitation to appear at the Met came at a time when
she was unwilling to be parted from her family for an extended period.
Once a Met engagement became more manageable for her, she made her
debut in 1962 as La Cieca in La Gioconda.
That success initiated an association with the company that endured for
24 seasons in 28 roles, encompassing most principal and supporting
parts available to a contralto in the standard repertoire. To
be expected were the mothers, grandmothers, maids and nurses (for
example, in La sonnambula, Cavalleria rusticana, Hansel and Gretel,
Les contes d'Hoffmann, Eugene Onegin, Boris Godunov and Jenufa).
Substantially more rewarding roles included Wagner's Erda (Ring
cycle), the three contralto roles in Puccini's Il Trittico, Madelon in
Andrea Chenier, and Leocadia Begbick in Rise and Fall of the City of
Mahagonny. Of the dramatic Verdi roles in Chookasian's stage repertoire
(she was a superb interpreter of all three), she sang Ulrica 14 times
with the Met, but Azucena came her way on just four occasions there
and Amneris only once. She sang Death in Stravinsky's The Nightingale
(Met premiere), was gloriously hearty as Auntie in Peter Grimes, and
shone in such comic parts as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff and the
Maharanee in Menotti's The Last Savage (US premiere).Her 290th and
final Met performance (indeed, her last appearance onstage in opera)
was as Gertrude in Romeo et Juliette on February 17, 1986.
Chookasian was also successful at New York City Opera and the leading
companies of Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans, Houston, Cincinnati,
and Montreal. She returned to Baltimore Opera in 1976 as the Queen
in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's Ines de Castro.
With a busy family life, plus her commitments with American opera
companies and orchestras, it was inevitable that Europe would play
a secondary role in Chookasian's activities. Besides Spoleto,
she appeared at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, as well as
the Zurich Opernhaus. Particularly meaningful for her was the
opportunity to perform in Yerevan, where she was heard in Aïda and
Dikran Tchouhadjian's opera Arshak II.
A supremely eloquent concert artist, Chookasian sang all the music one
would expect of her voice type, with particular success in the Verdi
Requiem, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, and major works of Mahler. She
was heard with the leading orchestras of New York, Philadelphia,
Cleveland, London, and Vienna, among many others.
In Chookasian's commercial discography the highlight is surely her
deeply moving performance in Alexander Nevsky with Schippers and
the New York Philharmonic. She sings under Leinsdorf in the Verdi
Requiem and Menotti's rarely heard cantata The Death of the Bishop of
Brindisi. Her interpretation of Das Lied von der Erde is documented
in performances led by Susskind and Ormandy (with the latter she also
recorded Beethoven's Symphony No 9). She participates in Bernstein's
recordings of both Mahler's Symphony No 8 and Vaughan Williams's
Serenade to Music. No doubt Chookasian took particular pleasure in
recording two works by the Armenian-American composer Richard Yardumian
- Come Creator Spirit (subtitled "A New Mass in English") and Symphony
No 2. Several "pirated" performances demonstrate the excellence of
Chookasian's Wagner and Verdi roles (including a magnificent Amneris
in Montreal in 1965) and her Met portrayals in Der fliegende Hollander,
Eugene Onegin and The Last Savage.
Having taught at Northwestern University earlier in her career,
Chookasian joined the voice faculty at Yale University in 1985.
Seventeen years later Yale's School of Music presented her with its
highest honour, the Sanford Medal. She was made Professor Emerita
in 2010.
Chookasian was remarkably courageous, having triumphed over serious
illness: her initial bout of breast cancer occurred in 1956, her
second five years later.
She was married to George Gavejian from 1941 until his death in 1987,
and is survived by two sons and a daughter.
Lili Chookasian, operatic contralto, was born on August 1, 1921. She
died on April 10, 2012, aged 90
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress