Pavel Gerasimovich Lisitsian (Russian: Павел Герасимович Лисициан, Armenian: Պավել (Պողոս) Գերասիմի Լիսիցյան; November 6, 1911 – July 6, 2004), was a Sovietbaritoneopera singer who performed in the Bolshoi Opera, Moscow from 1940 until his retirement from stage in 1966. People's Artist of the USSR (1956).
He was born into an Armenian family living in Vladikavkaz, where his father was a mineworker. Pavel first worked in diamond drilling, then as a welder apprentice hoping to follow his father's steps. He first began to sing in a church choir before moving to Leningrad to study cello (1930).
As a strong-voiced soloist of a local amateur group he was commissioned to the Leningrad Conservatory.
During a concert tour of the US in 1960, he appeared at the Metropolitan Opera as Amonasro. And in San Francisco, at the Cosmopolitan Opera on April 1 1960, he sang in the cast of Faust (along with Dorothy Warenskjold and Norman Treigle), in tenorJussi Bjorling's final operatic performance before his death.[1][2] Lisitsian sang his role, the soldier Valentin, in Russian while the others sang in French.
He died in Moscow at age 92.
His daughters Karina and Ruzanna are successful opera singers who frequently perform together. His grand daughter pianist Elena Lisitsian lives in New York City and his grandson Paul Asoyan lives in Encinitas, California.
References
^Alexander Fried (April 3, 1960). "Russian Baritone a Hit in 'Faust'". newspapers.com. San Francisco Examiner. p. 17. Retrieved August 12, 2024.