-= Kallen Esperian =-

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Kallen Esperian

 

 

Kallen Esperian, who was born in Barrington, Illinois on June 8, 1961, has emerged as one of opera's most acclaimed lyric sopranos and has appeared in major opera houses around the world.

 

After earning her degree at the University of Illinois, Miss Esperian began her career as a mezzo-soprano using her real name, Karen Machen (she's married to opera director Thomas Machen) until she sang in Luciano Pavarotti's Vocal Competition in Philadelphia in 1981. Mr. Pavarotti asked her if indeed she was a mezzo. When Miss Esperian replied that she was, Mr. Pavarotti replied, "Wrong. You are a soprano. Come back tomorrow and sing a soprano aria for us." She did just that and performed as a soprano when she won the Pavarotti Competition in 1985.

 

Since her debut as Mimi in Puccini's La Boheme with the Opera Company of Philadelphia in the Spring of 1986, Kallen Esperian has appeared on the world's major opera stages, including New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Deutsche Oper and Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, Buenos Aires' famed Teatro Colon and Milan's La Scala. A native of the Chicago area, Miss Esperian graduated from the University of Illinois with a Degree in Vocal Performance, and she performed frequently in regional opera theaters and with orchestras in concert. She was declared a winner at the finals of the Opera Company of Philadelphia/Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition in 1985, and this led to her debut with that company in April of 1986.

 

Following the competition performances, Miss Esperian traveled with other winners for further performances of La Boheme in Modena and Genoa and later in Beijing when the Genoa Opera made it's historic visit to China in the summer of that year. A film, Distant Harmony , documents this journey and features Miss Esperian in scenes from La Boheme. Her debut with the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin, again with Mr. Pavarotti in La Boheme, was an enormous success and led to an immediate invitation for her to star as Mimi in a new Goetz Friedrich production of the opera in the 1988-89 season.