Ariana Vafadari, mezzo-soprano
Ariana Vafadari, In parallel with her mezzo-soprano classical opera career,
Ariana Vafadari composes, records and performs on stage in a very different
style.
Her CD GATHAS, songs my father taugtht me, was released in 2016 (Quart de
Lune / UVM / Idol), she performed this program on great stages in Europe, Africa,
Asia : revelation of the Fes Festival of the World Sacred Music, she sang at
Théâtre de la Ville of Paris, Cathedral of Strasbourg, Festival Indo- Persan
(Marseille), Festival of Namur (Belgique), World Spirit Festival in Nagaur and
Jodhpur (Inde), Bombay Beach Biennale in California, YBCA in San Francisco
or at the Burning Man Festival (Nevada).
« A heartbreakingly beautiful performance » The New York Times, Bombay
Beach Biennale
« A spiritual itinerary, shared throughout the concert with an audience manifesting
smiles and reverie. Emotion, magic and the sacred » Le Monde des Religions,
World Sacred Music Festival of Fez
« The Franco-Iranian Ariana’s initiative is exemplary. She is a magnificent classical
voice, journeying back in time to her origins. Her concert transmitted a
corresponding spiritual charge (...) » Télérama, World Sacred Music Festival of
Fez
« The Biennale’s culmination : a surreal sunrise opera performance by Ariana
Vafadari. There is beauty and there is reverence » US Playboy, Bombay Beach
Biennale in California
« A thoroughly enchanting show. A vibrant bouquet of melopoeia and incantations
with an oriental fragrance, sung by the captivating Ariana Vafadari and her
exceptional musicians. » Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, France
Classical singing :
After studying engineering, Ariana Vafadari was gratuated from the Academy of
Music (CNSM) in Paris, studied at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin,
and has taken classes at the Actor’s Studio. Her concert work in Japan, Brazil,
the US or Europe includes the Stabat Mater of Pergolese, Les Nuits d'Eté of
Berlioz, the Requiem of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Folk Songs of Berio,
Britten, Sheherazade of Ravel, Les Chants d'Auvergne of Canteloube or Songs
and Dances of Death of Moussorgksy with the soloists of the Philharmonic of
Saint Petersbourg, the Pays de Loire Orchestra, or the Auvergne Orchestra.
She sings baroc music as well as contemprary music, ans sings in recital with
Claire Désert, Emmanuel Strosser...(in France, in Japon, in Germany, in Italy...)
Her opera roles includes Nancy (Albert Herring of Britten), Nerone
(L’Incoronazione di Poppea of Monteverdi), Proserpina (Orfeo of Monteverdi),
Dido and Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas of Purcell), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte of Mozart) at the Toulon
Opéra, in Terre et Cendres, of Jérôme Combier for the Lyon Opéra, in La
Pellegrina at the Dijon Opéra, Leyla (Leyla et Majnûn of Armand Amar) at Grand
Théâtre of Luxembourg and at Salle Pleyel of Paris...
She works for the theater with the french director Julie Bérès, and as an assistant
director on the Orfeo of Monterdi, for the Atelier Lyrique of the Paris Opera. She
has sang for many films.
Ariana Vafadari was exposed from an early age to the poetry and philosophy of
Zoroastrianism thanks to her father, she has undergone a growing longing to
bring back to life the ancient scripts of Zarathustra, as collated in the Avesta, the
writings founded on the tenets of wisdom, spirituality and a profound faith in the
natural goodness of mankind. Thought these prayers to Anahita, the will of Ariana
is to bring back the place of feminity in the world.
