And once again, Elvira Uzunyan
 It’s summer in Armenia again, and it’s scorching hot. However, the heat didn’t stand in the way of Elvira Uzunyan, who is one of the most remarkable Armenian opera artists and has carried out large-scale cultural activities in Boston, to visit the homeland. But Armenia didn’t mark her anniversary very well…

One time, Bernard Shaw was invited to the birthday-anniversary of a notable woman. Shaw made congratulatory remarks in his own way, without mentioning which anniversary it was. When the gathered asked him about that “mistake”, Shaw replied: “The more beautiful the woman is, the younger and more energetic she is. If you mention how old she is, she might lose that vigor.” When we speak of People’s Artist of Armenia and Georgia Elvira Uzunyan, we should pay attention to Shaw’s unique message, yet we shouldn’t fear that the notable artist may lose her vigor. The active rhythm of life and movement are not just a lifestyle for her, but also the spirit. A year ago, the singer was a little offended by me after I released information about her that was already old. When I called to talk to her in Boston, I was simply amazed at her ability to forgive, show her kindness as an artist and a person, understanding others and sometimes accepting things with humor. Let’s confess that not everyone has these attributes. That is exactly when I promised to touch upon her anniversary and prepared questions for my interview, but then I went back to my promise to write an essay that would reflect the singer’s presence and the continuation of her thoughts. Perhaps the right thing is to give an image through an essay because there is a need for assembling and appreciating. It was also because in an age when values are changing and being destroyed, the youth especially know very little about the notable Armenian singer, and her listeners continue to speak about her with love and longing. How can they not talk about her? Elvira Uzunyan is one of the most remarkable figures in Armenian opera, as well as the singer that established rich traditions, was a contemporary of Gohar Gasparyan and Gohar Galachyan and conditioned the rise of Armenian opera.

When my friend, Director of the Institute of Literature at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, doctor of philological sciences Avik Isahakyan found out that I was preparing to write about Elvira Uzunyan, he told me: “Write about how we used to wait impatiently for her concerts and her performances so that we could go and fill the opera theater, be charmed by the purity and depth of her performances and her infinite femininity”. Yes, Elvira Uzunyan was one of Armenia’s most feminine and most charming singers who performed each song with brilliance and charm and as an aristocrat. The media of the time was full of appraisals and evaluations of her art, and it was not by chance. Elvira Uzunyan changed a lot in Armenians’ notions, expanded their perceptions and brought the harmony of acting and vocal performance to the stage.

Elvira Uzunyan was born in Tbilisi, and one can notice that right away by her physical appearance. She took singing classes at the fourth music school in Tbilisi and went on to study in the Faculty of History at Pushkin State Pedagogical Institute in Tbilisi. She would have become a history teacher, if the song didn’t “sound” in her and didn’t make her take that path. Elvira had been singing for a long time, and she just had to listen to her heart. She got accepted to the Singing Department at Tbilisi State Conservatory, and she still hadn’t graduated from the conservatory when she was invited to perform at the Spendiaryan Theater of Opera and Ballet in 1962. She appeared with her beauty and charm and became the audience’s favorite with her beautiful voice.

A year after she arrived in Yerevan, she graduated from the conservatory and stayed here since the people needed her to be here. “Elvira became a breakthrough in Armenian opera. She was a soprano, but wasn’t afraid and marveled us with her performances of songs for sopranos,” this is what conductor Hakob Voskanyan said about the singer once. One of Uzunyan’s best opera songs was the song of Anush in the Anush opera. She performed after Haykanush Danielyan and Gohar Gasparyan, broke several stereotypes established for the image of Anush, showed the lightness and grace of a girl from the mountains, as well as the freedom and charm of the soul. Those who had the joy of listening to her sing the song of Anush felt the amazing power in her performance. The love and suffering of a girl from the village were shown with amazing power. The audience could sense the suffering in each note that was sung…

“Elvira Uzunyan was truly one of the best performers of the song of Anush in Armenia and went down in the history of Armenian operas,” wrote art critic Sergey Arakelyan, while academician Levon Hakhverdyan, who once touched upon the “Anush” opera and recalled Elvira Uzunyan, considered her performance the best of all performances of the song of Anush.

But the song of Anush wasn’t the only song that made Elvira Uzunyan popular. She has also sung the songs of Violetta and Jilda, Olympia and Maria, Rosina and Maro, Marfa and Anna…in other words, the best songs in the list of songs of Armenian, Russian and world opera. Alongside all that, she has also starred in films and has become the most charming and the most intellectual actress in Armenian cinema. She has played Anna in “Our Daily Water” (Jure Hanapazorya), Maro in “Coast of Adolescence” (Patanekutyan Ap) and other roles, each of which has helped reveal the unique actress. Now, for more than two decades, she has been living in Boston and has established an organization that supports young talented people. In an old edition of a newspaper we read the following: “They say that on the terrible days preceding the 1988 earthquake, one of the members of the board of trustees of Trchunyan Home was in the United States. An American child approached that member and gave ten dollars, saying he was donating all his money to the children who had suffered from the earthquake…

The Trchunyan Home members, who hadn’t suffered from an earthquake, listened to that story and kept thinking about it. Years later, during the flood in New Orleans in 2005, the members of Trchunyan Home did as the American child had done in 1988. They sent a letter to famous singer Elvira Uzunyan, saying: “Dear Elvira Uzunyan, we ask you to take your hand-made carpets to the United States as a gift and support, a symbol of amity and friendship to the American children who suffered from the disaster. The power of our hands, our love and warmth that we convey to our brothers and sisters of America are in those carpets…”.

Even though Uzunyan lives in Boston, she lives for Yerevan, Armenia and Armenian arts. After hearing about the death of Armenian poetess Silva Kaputikyan, the singer wrote the following in the presses: “The last time I saw her was at her villa a year ago. It was a beautiful place, and Kaputikyan’s presence, her smile, hospitality and humor made it more beautiful. I live very far away, but I live for Armenia, Yerevan, the St. Hripsime Church, the Matenadaran and other sanctities, among which is the exotic villa of Ara, the hospitable room and Kaputikyan, the symbol of Armenia and our nation.”

During these wonderful days of fruit harvest and the scorching heat, Elvira Uzunyan is in Yerevan, Armenia…She visits Armenia every year to receive more energy and live for Armenia once again. It is very painful that there is not much attention paid to her visits in Armenia’s cultural life. Perhaps the administration of Armenia’s opera theater should stop being indifferent toward the notables, organize an event to pay homage to them, introduce Elvira Uzunyan to the youth attending opera theater and make them listen to her speak-something which all Armenian professionals in the sphere need to do. In our turn, we convey our love to the notable singer and claim with certainty that by establishing a “little Armenia” in Boston, Uzunyan is the permanent member of this great Armenia…

Levon Mutafyan
http://en.hayernaysor.am/1342246409