Hometown: Tbilisi, Georgia
Career highlights: Amongst other awards, Georgian-Armenian mezzo-soprano Ani Kushyan is a 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition Georgia District winner. Kushyan has studied in conservatories and music academies in Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, and Germany. Currently, she is a second-year Houston Grand Opera Sarah and Ernest Butler Studio Artist. This season at HGO, she performs the role of Shepherd in Tannhäuser. Previous HGO roles include Flower Maiden/Second Esquire in Wagner’s Parsifal and Sister Sophia in The Sound of Music. In October 2023, Kushyan made her Carnegie Hall debut in a concert dedicated to composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 150 anniversary, and in summer 2024 she performed as a mezzo-soprano soloist in Houston Ballet’s Mayerling production. Previously, Kushyan was a member of the Armenian National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet’s young artists program from 2021 to 2023, making her company debut in composer Armen Tigranian’s opera Anoush. An active concert performer, she has appeared in Germany, USA, Italy, Latvia, Georgia, and Armenia.