"We are consumed with always trying to figure out, 'What would the composer have wanted?' And the way we try to perform something is to respect the composer's wishes, and to be the conduit for his wishes," Bayrakdarian says. "So, for the first time, this is a recording that actually provides the proof."
-NPR Weekend Edition, December 10, 2011 (includes VIDEO)
VIDEO of Isabel Bayrakdarian, Zuill Bailey and Zenph Sound Innovations talking about the recording of "The Spanish Masters". A unique CD accompanied by the late Manuel de Falla.
-VIDEO HERE, December 9, 2011
Interview with Bill Anderson, Classical 96.3FM
"Bayrakdarian says she loves recitals partly because they're a return to the performance experiences she had while she was earning a degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Toronto and studying voice privately on the side." -Tom Zillich, The Surrey Now, November 3, 2011
"The fifth album of re-performances from Zenph Sound Innovations will be available November 8, 2011. It features the music of three Spanish composers and appearances by rising stars Zuill Bailey and Isabel Bayrakdarian." -Press Release Zenph, October 25, 2011
"She's an opera diva with cascading black hair and designer gowns and he's a pianist with a chamber ensemble. These lovers, parents and well-known musicians often work together performing in recitals." -Trish Crawford, The Toronto Star, October 19, 2011
“Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian lived up to her advanced billing in terms of sheer wattage on stage, opening the Fresno Philharmonic season Saturday and Sunday with a glittering vocal performance in a concert titled "Opera Extravaganza!".” -Donald Munro, Fresnobeehive.com, September 26, 2011
“For her, an interview is another kind of performance, if only one-on-one, and when she offers her time on the phone, it's clear she approaches the exercise as she does with most things in life: with gusto, and totally in the moment.” -Donald Munro, The Fresno Bee, September 22, 2011
“Bayrakdarian, fully embodying the character of the ancient troubadour, was utterly entrancing. We all believed she was the real Ysabella.”-Gwenda Nemerofsky, The Winnipeg Free Press, March 31, 2011
VIDEO: Exclusive Video by Music of Armenian, March, 2011, London, UK
“Isabel Bayrakdarian's good looks, however, are worthily matched by her voice and artistry. The voice itself is essentially a lyric soprano, but she wields it with more power than that designation would suggest.”-Bernard Jacobson, Seattle Times, March 12, 2011
VIDEO: Exclusive Video by Music of Armenian, March, 2011, London, UK
“In the Ravel Shéhérazade, Bayrakdarian, in a lavish gown of iridescent indigo, unfurled the three songs with clarity, subtlety and the sense of mystery and magic they need to open out their jewelled beauties. She could just have sung them, and her voice alone would have carried them. But she chose as well to investigate and share the evocations of their poetry, and this gave them a rarely discovered dimension.”-Ken Winters, The Globe and Mail, June 20, 2010
“Her creamy lyric soprano voice was made for long lines of melody, and this was displayed in song after song, in a recital that was hard to beat for sheer sonic pleasure… Bayrakdarian allowed a darker, smoky tone into her voice for…sultry, passionate songs…Her stage presence was inviting and engaging. Her expressions and gestures were those of a singer who enjoyed sharing the music with an audience, rather than just a vocal technician running through her repertoire.” -David Fleshler, South Florida Classical Review, December 21, 2009
“One can only hope that this fine soprano, a Canadian at that, will be able to grace the city’s concert halls again soon.”
-Kenneth Delong, Calgary Herald, March 27, 2009
“Ms. Bayrakdarian playfully gamboled through childlike melodies, her voice warm and sunny; in the laments her plaintive tone cut to the heart. She made sinuously winding melismatic passages seem effortless.”
-Steve Smith, The New York Times, October 21, 2008
“Maybe Armenian folk music idioms aren't your cup of tea. But make sure you get a ticket to hear soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian the next time she comes to town, no matter what's on the program.”
-Joel Brown, The Boston Globe, October 21, 2008
“…the evening's main focus was Bayrakdarian herself, whose vivid, dark-hued tone and sumptuous phrasing imbued every piece of music with warmth and urgency. Her singing reached great heights of oratorical splendor when necessary, but the simplicity of some of the more straightforward songs was equally touching.” -Joshua Kosman, The San Francisco Chronicle, October 6, 2008
“…she is a solid, smart, and well-prepared singer. And she gave a most enjoyable — even instructive — recital on Saturday night. Indeed, you could say that her recital did what a voice recital ought to do: provide a kind of tour, and showcase the talents and personality of a winning artist.” -Jay Nordlinger, The New York Sun, March 10, 2008
“Isabel Bayrakdarian possesses a firm, luxurious lyric soprano and sings with a crystal-clear, almost prescient sense of diction in a rainbow of languages. But what most impressed…was her extraordinary capacity to spin an endless melodic line, a mellifluous flow that takes you from the beginning to the end of a thought or idea.”
-Paul Horsley, Kansas City Star, January 26, 2008
“Bayrakdarian's performance…had an authority reminiscent of the legendary Madeleine Grey's in the Auvergne songs or of the fabled Conchita Supervia's in Manuel de Falla's Seven Spanish Folksongs.” -Ken Winters, Globe and Mail, May 28, 2007
“A passionate performer, Bayrakdarian clearly expressed the colourful emotive of every song in her facial features and body carriage, exemplified further by her passionate vocals. It was difficult to look away from the stunning diva.”
-Lynn Peppas, The Tribune, December 2, 2006
“Bayrakdarian...brought virtually an entire audience of early-music aficionados to its feet…
Bayrakdarian [was extraordinary] for her wide emotional compass, all-out, impassioned singing and tonal beauty…” -Jason Victor Serinus, Opera News, November 5, 2006
“[Bayrakdarian] expressed the sweetness of The Magic Flute's Pamina and had turned instantly from the coy innocence of Zerlina in Don Giovanni to the rage of Donna Elvira, ripping through the final ascending runs of her aria like rising flame. The atmospheric notes she floated to at the end of the rose aria from The Marriage of Figaro lingered in the following silence. And the popular seduction duet "Lа ci darem la mano" from Giovanni, which she sang with Braun, was the best I've heard.”
-John Lehr, The Toronto Star, June 8, 2005
“She sings with such captivating personality and executes the most treacherous melismatic levitations and ornamental vocal undulations with electrifying bravura. Bayrakdarian performs with everything she has, an unteachable talent. She has beauty and physical poise, but she also has a sure sense of singing’s theatrical dimension… So completely did she make her generous presence felt, you could imagine her music curing diseases.” -Bill Rankin, Edmonton Journal, April 24, 2005
“She possesses a voice of angelic purity. Her sound is effortlessly produced. Her radiant tonal beauty, musicality and perfect intonation are what vocal legends are all about! Bayrakdarian’s beauty, subtly natural gestures, and sheer magnetism held the audience in the palm of her hand… Her feverish dramatic utterance and pin-point coloratura accuracy were simply dazzling!Isabel Bayrakdarian is an artist in the grand tradition of Ponselle, Callas, Sutherland, and Caballe.” -Lawrence Budmen, Coral Gables Gazette, March 2004
“Bayrakdarian boasts a voice that is both crystalline and dark-hued in tone, and her phrasing combines plushness with pinpoint accuracy in a formidable one-tow punch. She brought tender intimacy and high drama to the music in equal measure…” -Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, October 30, 2002
“Bayrakdarian ranged from mischievous, sophisticated wit to moody languor, painting sometimes in strokes of fiery brilliance, then with caressing intimacy."-Matthew Gurewitsch, Opera Now, May/June 2002
