Helen Ispirian
The mezzo-soprano Helen Ispirian with Armenian-Upper Franconian roots initially studied singing, dance and acting at the University of Music & Performing Arts in Vienna as well as classical singing and music education at the Berlin University of the Arts with KS Prof. Ute Florey (née Döring). She previously had lessons with Reiner Goldberg (Berlin State Opera) and took part in master classes with Peter Svensson (Vienna). She recently received a postgraduate diploma in baroque singing with Doerthe Maria Sandmann (Institute for Early Music at the Berlin University of the Arts).
Although Helen came into contact with classical music as a child through violin, piano and ballet lessons and also received her first singing lessons from a classical singer, the versatile artist gained very different artistic experiences before discovering her love of baroque music: She spent several months as a guest artist at the Deutsches Theater Almaty in Kazakhstan, where she worked mainly in a musical adaptation of "Mother Courage and Her Children" by B.Brecht; she created the title role in the Russian premiere of Georg Kreisler's “Heute Abend: Lola Blau! “ at the Meyerhold Center in Moscow and founded the band GASTARBAiTERKA, which mixed German chanson with balalaika and accordion sounds and gave concerts in Moscow - e.g. on “Europe Day” on the Red Square - as well as several times in the Urals and Siberia at the invitation of the German Embassy and the Goethe Institute.
Helen Ispirian has worked throughout Germany as a duo with pianists, guitarists and accordionists in the field of chanson and song as well as in experimental projects, including with the Sonar Quartett Berlin with members of Ensemble Mosaik. In 2021, she performed at the official celebrations of the diaspora Armenians on the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide Victims. She has also directed two short films. The musical film “Erhöre uns süße Freiheit!”, realized with OrgaVoce, was awarded at international festivals and published by the Goethe Institute after successful participation in the competition.
Helen has received artist grants from the German Music Council, the Musikfonds and the GVL (Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten).
Helen is now mainly active as a soloist in the field of baroque music. With a Jewish Vocal Quartett she performed music by Bach in Hebrew as well as contemporary Jewish music at several Festivals as well as Villa Seligman in Hannover. She is also regularly engaged as an alto by various professional choirs for specific projects. She was selected as a regular member of the Bamberg Symphonic Choir, which performs chamber music choral concerts with early and new music as well as large choral symphonic projects with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and other renowned orchestras.
As a choral soloist, she has performed with the Ernst Senff Choir & German Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Roland Böer at the Konzerthaus Berlin. Helen has also had guest engagements in the opera choirs at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Landestheater Coburg, Gerhardt-Hauptmann-Theater Görlitz and Nordharzer Städtebundtheater and will make a guest appearance in the opera choir at the Munich State Opera in summer 2025.
Helen has worked with renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Roland Böer, Justin Doyle, Florian Helgath, Elisa Gogou, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Oscar Jockel, Kiril Karabitz, Maike Bühle, Fabian Enders, Marcus Merkel, Michael Sanderling, Nathalie Stutzmann, Juraj Valčuha, Jörg Peter Weigle and others.
Concert venues have included the Berlin Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus and the Waldbühne, Berlin Cathedral, the Globe Theater in Coburg, the Bamberg Symphony Concert Hall, the Bad Kissingen Summer Festival, St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, the Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg and the Weimar Art Festival.
Helen is largely responsible for the artistic program design and profile development at OrgaVoce.