16 Facts About Zara Dolukhanova

Zara Aleksandrovna Dolukhanova was a Soviet Armenian mezzo-soprano who achieved fame performing on many lauded radio broadcasts of operas and works from the concert repertoire during the 1940s through the 1960s.

Zara Dolukhanova's voice was a rare coloratura-mezzo, of unique clarity and unusually wide range.

Zara Dolukhanova performed a wide range of works from concert repertoire that encompassed most of the great Russian composers as well as numerous works by Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Meyerbeer.

Zara Dolukhanova's mother, Elena Makaryan, was a professional singer, and her father, Aghasi Makaryan, was a professional flautist, clarinettist and trumpeter.

Zara Dolukhanova first studied the piano, then the violin, but finally decided at age 16 that she wanted to study singing.

Zara Dolukhanova studied at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow with V Belyayeva-Tarassevitch.

Zara Dolukhanova made her operatic debut in 1938 at the Yerevan Opera Theatre as Siebel in Gounod's Faust.

Zara Dolukhanova remained a member of that company for the next three years, singing mainly minor roles.

Shortly after leaving the Yerevan Opera Theatre, Zara Dolukhanova married the composer Alexander Dolukhanian, and from this point on used her married name when she performed.

Zara Dolukhanova continued to perform with minor opera houses in Armenia until she and her husband relocated to Moscow in 1944, when she was appointed as a soloist with the USSR All-Union Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Zara Dolukhanova sang often with the orchestra over the next two decades, including in the world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's On Guard for Peace.

Zara Dolukhanova notably performed in the Russian premieres of Suor Angelica and Strauss's Four Last Songs, as well as the 1955 world premiere of Shostakovich's song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry.

Outside of Russia, Zara Dolukhanova maintained an unusually active concert and recital schedule for a Soviet-era artist.

Zara Dolukhanova made her United States debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1959 and toured the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Japan, New Zealand, and Latin America during her career.

In 1970, Zara Dolukhanova retired from singing and joined the voice faculty at the Gnessin Institute, where she taught for more than twenty-five years.

Zara Dolukhanova died aged 90 on December 4,2007 in Moscow.