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The Canadian coloratura soprano of Armenian origin, Aline Kutan, made her operatic debut at the age of 18 as Flora in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at the Vancouver Opera. Parallel to that, she studied music at the University of British Columbia followed by l’Université Laval in Quebec City. Her most prominent teachers include David Meek and the late Louise André. Kutan was the winner of the 1995 New York Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, recipient of the George London Award in New York, the Jeunesses Musicales-Joseph Rouleau award and the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Study Grant. Other national awards include the MSO Voice Competitions, the COC Mozart and the Vancouver Operatic Society Competitions. She has also been a finalist and the prize winner at the Toulouse International Vocal Competition in France for Best Interpretation of a French Opera Excerpt. Before launching her operatic career, she also performed for two years in the national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera.
Aline Kutan has been enjoying much success on international stages of the world. In the last few years, she made her debuts at the Glyndebourne Festival with the role of the Queen of the Night and at La Scala singing the role of Semele in a performance of Salieri’s Europa Riconosciuta conducted by Riccardo Muti. At Opéra de Bordeaux, she created the role of Pasiphaé in Philippe Fénelon’s contemporary opera Les Rois and sang The Magic Flute at the Opéra National de Paris. She appeared in Carmina Burana at the Festival International des Chorégies d’Orange and the Orchestre symphonique de Toulouse in France. She recently sang the title role of Lakmé at l'Opera de Montréal to rave reviews and ovations by the public. She has also performed the role at Arizona Opera, Michigan Opera, l’Opéra d’Avignon, l’Opéra de Toulon as well as the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in Germany. Other roles include: Konstanze in Entführung aus dem Serail (l’Opéra de Québec, Vancouver Opera); Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos (l’Opéra de Montréal, San Carlo di Napoli, Capitole de Toulouse); Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann (l’Opéra Royal de Wallonie, l’Opéra de Genève, l’Opéra de Massy); Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute (Opera National de Paris, l’Opéra de Marseille, l’Opéra d’Avignon, New York City Opera, l’Opéra de Québec, Opera de Lille, Festival de St. Céré and the Chorégies d’Orange etc); Anne Trulove in Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress (l’Opéra de Metz and Avignon); Comtesse Adele in Comte Ory (l’Opéra de Metz); Ludmila in Glinka's Russlan and Ludmila. (Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe) Blumenmädchen in Parsifal (Opéra National de Paris); title role of the Armenian opera Anoush (Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit); Adele in Die Fledermaus (Opera Ontario) and Sylvie in Charles Gounod’s La Colombe (l’Opéra Français de New York) at the Lincoln Center.
In concert, with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Aline Kutan has sung Ravel's Feu, Princesse & Rossignol in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, W.A. Mozart’s Bastien et Bastienne, I. Stravinsky`s title role of Le Rossignol at the Lanaudière International Festival as well as Gliere’s Concerto for a Coloratura Soprano Op.82 conducted by Charles Dutoit. Other concert highlights include Morgana in Alcina with Toronto Opera in Concert, George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Strauss's Brentano Lieder and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, Carmina Burana, W.A. Mozart’s C Minor Mass and the Requiem. She has collaborated with many orchestras and chamber ensembles such as Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, I Musici de Montréal, Toronto Sinfonia, CBC Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York, NAC Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières and Buffalo Philharmonic among others. She has worked with conductors such as James Conlon, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Charles Mackerras, Bertrand de Billy, Gustav Kuhn, Christopher Hogwood, Julius Rudel, Jonathan Darlington, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Raffi Armenian, Mario Bernardi, Bernard Labadie, Jacques Lacombe, Yuli Turovsky, Yoav Talmi, Daniel Lipton, Yves Abel, etc.
Her recent CD’s under the Analekta label feature Richard Strauss' Lieder with renown Montreal pianist Louise-Andrée Baril as well as a recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seven Poems by Alexander Blok with the Gryphon Trio . Under the ATMA label, she has recorded German Lieder for voice, clarinet and piano trio. Other recodings include a live performance of Ariadne auf Naxos with Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli with Gustav Kuhn as well as an album of Armenian Art Songs entitled Im Yerke with pianist Gregory Chaverdian. Projects for the next seasons include Mignon at l’Opéra d’Avignon and Magic Flute in Santiago, Chile. She will premiere Philippe Fénelon’s concert arias with the Orchestra in Switzerland and is scheduled to record a new album for Analekta records.
Aline Kutan who sings in 8 languages has given numerous recitals and has taught masterclasses and voice lessons at the Camp Musicales de Laurentides in St.Adolphe d’Howard. |
