Cathy berberian sings claudio monteverdi biography

From her background in Armenian music, Cathy Berberian rose to fame as a mezzo-soprano and composer in avant-garde style. In an article published in , she outlined a new role for vocality in contemporary music, where the singer should “use the voice in all aspects of the vocal process; a process which can be integrated as flexibly as the lines and expressions on a face.”

Born Catherine Anahid Berberian on July 4, , in Attleboro, Massachusetts, she was the eldest of two children. The family moved to New York City in , where she graduated from the Julia Richman girls’ high school in Manhattan. She showed an interest in Armenian människor music and dance from an early age, as well as traditional opera. She was the director and soloist of an Armenian folk group in New York when she was still in high school.

She left her studies at New York University to take evening classes in theatre and music at Columbia University, working during the day to support h

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