Elina Avanesyan

Elina Avanesyan graduated from the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan and was a leading soloist of the Armenian National Opera: Zerlina, Susanna, Mimì, Iolanta, from 2000 to 2004, on the stages of Yerevan, the Mozart Festival in Salzburg and Florence. In 2001–2002 she studied in Luciano Pavarotti’s classes in Italy, sang at the Kremlin Palace and the Berlin Konzerthaus, and in 2004 won the Armenian Music Award for best debut album. In 2008–2009 she worked with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. She has taught voice for more than twenty-five years; her students have gone on to the Manhattan School of Music, UCLA and Berklee. Belcanto Vocal Studio is her studio in Portland.