The Armenian baritone Navasard Hakobyan is currently a member of the Butler Studio of the Houston Grand Opera, where he has most recently appeared as Baron Douphol (La traviata), Antonio (Le nozze di Figaro) and Second Nazarene (Salome). In the 2023/24 season he has made his debut as Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) at the Dallas Opera and appeared in a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall celebrating the 150th birthday of Sergey Rachmaninoff. As a participant in the Music Academy of the West he performed the role of Marcello (La bohème) at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara in summer 2023.
Navasard Hakobyan has won numerous awards, including the third prize and the zarzuela prize in Operalia in 2023, the Sullivan Award, first prizes in the Butler International Voice Competition in Austin, in the Eleanor McCollum Competition and at the International Vocal Competition of the Premiere Opera Foundation, and third prize at the José Carreras Grand Prix.
Navasard Hakobyan studied at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan and completed the training programme for young singers at the Armenian National Opera, Yerevan. In 2019 he received the Classical Music Youth Prize from the President of the Republic of Armenia.
