Following Javier Camarena’s Contrabandista, now comes the next in the ‘Mentored by Bartoli’ series. Celebrating Pauline Viardot in the 200th anniversary year of her birth. Varduhi Abrahamyan is a Franco-Armenian mezzo-soprano. She appeared with Cecilia Bartoli in Alcina and her upcoming house debut at the Met Opera is the title role in Carmen. The album features a duet with Cecilia Bartoli (track 2). It also includes an Armenian piece (featuring a duduk player) as a nod to Varduhi’s heritage, Komitas’ Krunk.

‘This enormously enjoyable debut solo recording from the Armenian mezzo comes courtesy of Decca’s “Mentored by Bartoli” series, and Abrahamyan certainly shares the Roman diva’s effervescence and vocal flexibility. Her Rossini is scintillating stuff, but she’s no one-trick-pony: there’s impressive poise and gravitas in Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, and her Dalila has attitude and amplitude in spades.’ - Katherine Cooper, Presto Classical