Ara Berberian

Ara Berberian (Armenian: Արա Բերբերյան, May 14, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan - February 21, 2005 in Boynton Beach, Florida, ) was an American bass and actor who had an active international career in operas, concerts, and musicals from the early 1960s until his retirement from the stage in 1997. He notably had an 18-year association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where he gave a total of 334 performances between 1979-1997. He sang over 100 roles during his career, including those of Osmin in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio and Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto.

Born in Detroit, Berberian attended the Culver Military Academy, a college preparatory school in Culver, Indiana, from which he graduated in 1948. One of his classmates and friends at Culver was baseball executive George Steinbrenner. He then matriculated to the University of Michigan where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a Master of Laws degree. While there he also studied voice privately with Kenneth Westerman and performed in several operas, musicals, and choral ensembles at the University.

After working as a lawyer for one year, Berberian became a pitcher with the minor-league baseball team, the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. He left the team after one season to join the newly created United States Army Chorus in 1956, becoming an enlisted soldier in the United States Army. In 1958 he left the chorus to pursue a singing career in New York City. There he became a pupil of celebrated pedagogue Beverly Peck Johnson of the Juilliard School. Over the next few years he sang as a paid chorus member with the Robert Shaw Chorale and the New York City Opera (NYCO).

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