Canadian-Armenian bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian begins the 2025/26 season with his house and role debut at the Royal Ballet & Opera as Robert (Les Vêpres siciliennes). He returns to the Opéra national de Paris to perform Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Zuniga (Carmen), and Angelotti (Tosca), before making his Opéra de Lausanne debut as Sparafucile (Rigoletto).
Recent career highlights include Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) at the Verbier Festival, Lo Zio Bonzo (Madama Butterfly) and Lord Gualtiero Valton (I Puritani) at the Opera national de Paris, Basilio (The Barber of Seville) at the Des Moines Metro Opera, and his Wagnerian role debut as Fasolt (Das Rheingold) with the Edmonton Opera. As a resident artist at the Opera San Jose he performed Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Frère Laurent (Romeo and Juliet), and Capitán (Florencia en el Amazonas).
As a recipient of numerous awards, Gabrielian was a finalist of the 2022 Belvedere Competition and a National Semi-Finalist of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. He has been generously supported by the Metropolitan Opera National Council, Sylva Gelber Foundation, Career Bridges Schuyler Foundation, Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the George London Foundation.
He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the Curtis Institute of Music and is an alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company’s ensemble and the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice program.
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I Puritani (Lord Gualtiero Valton)
Opéra national de Paris, February 2025
"Vartan Gabrielian, as Lord Gualtiero Valton (Elvira’s father), delivered a well-supported bass-baritone with a beautiful legato, adding gravitas to the role."
Laura Servidei, OperaWire
"Valton (Vartan Gabrielian) demonstrates his impenetrable nature as governor."
Tancrède Lahary, ForumOpera.com
Madama Butterfly (Lo zio Bonzo)
Opéra national de Paris, September 2024
"Furthermore, I would like to mention Vartan Gabriellan who sang Lo zio Bonzo and really shouted 'Butterfly' so impressively that it made you cold. He is a very driven and sympathetic singer, who this year is part of the Troupe lyrique of the Paris Opera."
Monique Ten Boske, OperaMagazine.nl
"... Vartan Gabrielian delivers a compelling performance as the vengeful and indignant Bonze."
Par Philippe Scagni, Olyrix
Don Basilio, The Barber of Seville
Des Moines Metro Opera, June 2024
“[Gabrielian’s]…booming, malevolent delivery of La calunnia rocked the house.”
James Sohre, Opera Today
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