Karan Armstrong
| Karen Armstrong | |
|---|---|
Armstrong in 1974
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| Born |
December 14, 1941 Havre, Montana, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Soprano |
| Spouse(s) | Götz Friedrich |
| Children | Johannes (son) |
Karan Armstrong (born December 14, 1941, Havre, Montana) is an American operatic soprano, who is celebrated as a singing-actress.
Originally trained as a pianist, Armstrong graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College in 1963. She later studied with Lotte Lehmann in Santa Barbara, California. She made her operatic debut in 1965 with a secondary company in San Francisco, as Musetta in La bohème. She made her first appearance with the San Francisco Spring Opera the following year, as Elvira in L'italiana in Algeri.
In 1966, Armstrong won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, which led to her being engaged by the house for small roles. She made her debut at the Met on October 2, 1966, as one of the servants in Die Frau ohne Schatten, under Karl Böhm, with Leonie Rysanek and Christa Ludwig. She continued to perform regularly at the Met through the spring of 1969, in roles like the Paggio in Rigoletto (opposite Cornell MacNeil), Annina in La traviata (with Virginia Zeani), and the Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel (with Teresa Stratas as Gretel).
Preferable contracts emanated from the New York City Opera, and she made her first appearance with that company as the Reine de Chémakhâ in Le coq d'or (with Michael Devlin), in 1969. She was to appear at that theatre many times through 1977, singing such roles as Conceptión in L'heure espagnol (with Kenneth Riegel), Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (opposite Patricia Brooks, then Beverly Sills), Violetta Valéry in La traviata, the title heroine in La belle Hélène, and Minnie in La fanciulla del West, among others.
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