Arda Mandikian (1 September 1924 – 8 November 2009) was a Greek-Armenian soprano opera singer. Mandikian launched her career in England. She took on leading roles in London and Edinburgh. In the 1980s she became the assistant director of the Greek National Opera.

Career

Mandikian was born in Izmir,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

in 1924. Mandikian's parents, Krikor Mandikian and Beatrike Ananian, were survivors of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

. The family fled to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece, and Mandikian was sent to the Athens Conservatory where she studied under Elvira de Hidalgo. When she was 15 she made her operatic début with Maria Callas. In 1948 she travelled to Britain to meet the scholar and composer

Egon Wellesz Egon Joseph Wellesz CBE (21 October 1885 – 9 November 1974) was an Austrian, later British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music. Early life and education in Vienna Egon Joseph Wellesz was ...

. Wellesz arranged for her to give a recital that included Greek music written over two millennia. This included

Delphic Hymns The Delphic Hymns are two musical compositions from Ancient Greece, which survive in substantial fragments. They were long regarded as being dated circa 138 BC and 128 BC, respectively, but recent scholarship has shown it likely they wer ...

written in about 128 B.C.John Warrack, ‘Mandikian, Arda (1924?–2009)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 201
accessed 7 Sept 2015
/ref> She also appeared in Wellesz's ''Incognita'' in Oxford.
Naxos.com, Retrieved 7 September 2015 A demonstration of her singing led to regular work. In 1953 she had leading roles in operas in both Paris and London. In that year she was singing in London's Covent Garden in

Peter Grimes ''Peter Grimes'', Op. 33, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Montagu Slater based on the section "Peter Grimes", in George Crabbe's long narrative poem '' The Borough''. The "borough" of the opera is a fictional ...

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

and in 1954 she appeared in ''Le Coq d’or'' by

Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...

again at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

. In 1954 she sang the ''First Delphic Hymn'' at the

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...

. This inspired

to include a similar idea in his ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmil ...

''. Britten created the role of the ghost ''Miss Jessel'' especially for Mandikian. It has been said that Britten made the part so close to Mandikian that it "sounds like Arda, whoever sings it". In the 1960s her mother became ill and she went back to look after her. Whilst she was back in Greece a

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

seized power there and Mandikian spoke out against them. She could not sing opera as she would not take work in Greece and she feared that she would be exiled if she left the country. The Greek junta's dictatorship ended in 1974. From 1974 to 1980 Mandikian was assistant director of the Greek National Opera. She worked with Christos Lambrakis.Arda Mandikian obituary
The Guardian, Retrieved 7 September 2015 Mandikian died in

in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandikian, Arda 1924 births 2009 deaths Musicians from İzmir Greek expatriates in the United Kingdom 20th-century Greek women opera singers Greek people of Armenian descent Smyrniote Armenians Turkish emigrants to Greece Singers from Athens