German-Armenian soprano Hrachuhi Bassenz was a member of the Nuremberg State Opera and Semperoper Dresden, where she has been singing leading roles such as Bellini’s “Zaira”, “Elvira” & “Norma”.Verdi’s “Desdemona”, “Amelia”, “Leonora”, “Violetta”, “Lina” & “Gulnara”. Puccini’s “Mimi”, “Madama Butterfly” & “Liu” and everything from “Selika” from Myierbeer to “Queen of the Night” from Mozart. She finished a magnificent 2024 season in ROH with “Madama Butterfly” and will return with “Violetta” for the opening of the 2025 season. On top of that, she has performed at the Royal Opera House – Covent Garden, with role debuts as Adriana Lecouvreur and house debuts at the Wiener Staatsoper, Opera National de Bordeaux, Den Norske Opera & Ballet, L’Opéra national du Rhin Strasbourg, the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, only to name a few.
In August of 2024 she will be making her South Korean debut, where she will perform as Desdemona in Keith Warner՛s production of Otello.After opening the season of 2024/25 with Violetta in La Traviata at the Royal Opera House, Hrachuhi will give her house debut as Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly at the Las Palmas Opera and then role debuts as Tosca in Limoges and in Vichy, as well as Ariadne in Tel Aviv.
In 2025/26 she will debut in Spain at the Teatro Real Madrid with “Amelia” in Simon Boccanegra.
Hrachuhi also has a recital with Maestro Helmut Deutsch in Yerevan and will be singing Strauss Four Last Songs and the Brahms Requiem at the Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg in Autumn of 2024 conducted by Maestro Guido Johannes Rumstadt.
Conductors with whom she has worked include Antonio Pappano, Johannes Wildner, Alexander Shelley, Marc Tardue, Daniel Oren, Antonino Fogliani, John Fiore, Henrik Nanasi, Marc Minkowski, Antonello Manacorda, Ivan Repusic, Daniele Rustioni, Omer Meir Wellber, Joana Mallwitz, Lorenzo Viotti, Renato Balsodonna, Speranza Scapucci and Giampaolo Bisanti and she enjoys collaborative relationships with stage directors including Laura Scozzi, Calixto Bieito, Mariame Clément, Dieter Kaegi, David McVicar, Elijah Moshinsky and Bruno Ravella.
Hrachuhi Bassenz was born to a musical family in Yerevan, Armenia.
After completing her violin studies, she graduated with distinction from singing at the State Komitas Conservatory in her hometown with Professor Gayane Geghamyan. She has been awarded numerous prizes, including Singer of the Year; and Audience Award from the Musiktheater Gelsenkirchen; the Bavarian Art Prize; the 2nd prize of the Voci Verdiane international singing competition as well as the Gold Medal.
From the Ministry of Culture and the “Komitas Medal” from the Diaspora Ministry of the Republic of Armenia. In addition to the European repertoire, she participates actively in various cultural and charitable events of the Armenian Diaspora communities. In 2016, Pope Francis visit to Armenia coincided with the invitation of the Chief Conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Eduard Topchyan, to attend the solemn event in the Republic Square of Yerevan.
