Mission and About

The Young Artists of Opera Program (YAOP) is a program for talented young opera artists to help them become more experienced and prepare them for a professional career in opera theatres in Armenia and abroad. The program develops future professional opera artists by providing young artists with a comprehensive and practical education through extensive individual training courses led by specialists in the field. The courses are designed to teach the participants all the necessary knowledge and skills to ensure they meet international standards.

The program teaches the soloists opera coaching, choreography, opera directing, stage performing, and other necessary courses to guarantee the participants’ professional growth. Moreover, the program gives the participants an opportunity to participate in masterclasses with local and international specialists and to play roles in opera performances, concerts, and opera premiers in Armenia Opera Theatre. Discover talented young opera artists, develop professional competitive opera artists meeting international standards, and ensure integration of new generations of the artists in Armenian and other world-renown opera theatres by providing comprehensive and practical education.

Program History

The Young Artists of Opera Program (YAOP) was founded in 2016 by Gegham Grigoryan, a national artist of the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Latvia, and Levon Javadyan, opera coach, pianist and associate professor of Yerevan State Conservatory. Until today, the program has contributed to the professional development of more than 25 talented young artists in Armenia. The artists participated in various international and local contests and won more than 20 prizes including the RA Presidential award in "Hans Gabor Belvedere" Singing Competition, contest-TV project “Big Opera”, The CIS Delphic Games, Annual International Minsk “Christmas Singing”, “Pyongyang”, “Aram Khachaturian”, “Vyatskoe”, “Klaudia Taev” and “Tenor Viñas” Competitions, Gohar Gasparyan Pan-Armenian Competition for soloists and other contests.

YAOP artists participated in masterclasses in Germany, Russia, Estonia, Italy, and Romania with famous opera singers Cheryl Studer, Dolora Zajick, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya, Barbara Frittoli, Michael Paul, Marianna Nikoleski, Dale Fundling, and others. The artists also participated in masterclasses in Armenia with professionals in the field Barsegh Tumanyan, Gevorg Hakobyan, Hovhannes Ayvazyan, Karine Babajanyan, Vazgen Ghazaryan, Arkadi Martirosyan, Susanna Bagamyan, Suren Shakhijanyan, Vaghinak Ohanyan, Yeghishe Manucharyan, and others.... Furthermore, the participants took part in performances of the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, where they performed in “Karine-Cocktail” performance and T. Chukhajyan's "Karine" operetta, G. Rossini’s “The Journey to Reims” opera, J. Massenet’s “Manon” opera, Alexey Shor’s “Crystal Palace” ballet, A. Khachaturian’s “Masquerade” ballet and many other performances. Moreover, the soloists of the YAOP program performed in various events of national importance held in many prestigious national and international concert halls, and implemented educational and cultural projects in the provinces of Armenia and Artsakh.