Karina Flores

Karina Flores is a Russian operatic soprano of Armenian origin also known as Karina Grigoryan. She sings a wide variety of roles from Opera buffa like "Le Nozze di Figaro in the role of Contessa, grand opera, bel canto to Italian verismo like Adriana Lecouvreur . She also an interpreter of Pastiche (music)|Pastiche (Passé-ism) roles like Lisa in Pique Dame, expressionism as Katerina Ismailova in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District and Requiem like Mozart's Requiem, Verdi's Requiem and Britten's War Requiem. 
== Early life ==
Karina Flores was born in the City of Shakhty (Russia) from Armenia parents, and inside the Armenian community, also known as Karina Grigoryan. She started to have music education at the age of seventeen years old at Shakhty musical college, and from 1999 to 2005 she studied at Rostov State Rachmaninov Conservatoire in Rostov (Russia). In 2006 she continued her studies at the opera studio named after P. Lisician with the opera singer R. Lisician in Moscow. In 2008 she was the winner of an Academic scholarship to study at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (Italy) for three years. During those years she was in conducting under her mentor the Italian soprano and opera director Renata Scotto.
== Operatic career ==
At the beginning of her career, Flores had several appearances with the Rostov State Rachmaninov Conservatoire in Rostov (Russia) during the conservatory, a Moscow Conservatory lecturer Sergey Yakovenko heard her. He invited her to the Lisician opera studio for two weeks in Moscow. As a result of this trial, Lisician studio introduced her to Helikon Opera Company for an audition and was engaged for eight seasons by this company. 
In 2006 Helikon Opera organized a tour for the 100th anniversary of Shostakovich birth, she performed the Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District as Katerina Ismajlova in South Korea at Seongnam Arts Center, Opera House
 . Between the 2008 and 2010, she won the second prize in the international competitions Flaviano Labò|Flaviano Labo in Piacenza, the Galina Vishnevskaya|G. Vishnevskaya competition in Moscow twinner and Ottavio Ziino" in Rome. In 2009 was invited by the Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Obraztsova at Mikhajlovskij theatre in Saint Petersburg to perform the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana.
During 2010/2011 season Flores appeared as Aida in Aida at Novaja Opera and Opera de Massy in Paris, at Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre with Peter Stein's direction the role of Norma in Norma, at Opera de Massy in Paris as Katerina Ismajlova in Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.
During the season 2012/2013 she made her debut in Tel Aviv performing as Lisa in Pique Dame with the Israeli Opera company conducted by Vladimir Jurowsky and this performance was recorded by Helicon Classics and distributed in cd and DVD . In Bangkok for the XV International Music Festival in Bangkok, an event held under the patronage of the princesses of the Royal House of Thailand as Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia. 
In 2013 she was a finalist at 50° International Competition for Verdi voices 
. After this competition she was invited for the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi recital conducted by Francesco Cilluffo|Francesco Ciluffo, she performed at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow.
For the season 2013/2014 she performed in Moscow, and Arbat as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera and she also sang in Naples (Italy) at Teatro San Carlo di Napoli (the oldest opera house in Europe) as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana 
 . 
During the season 2014/2015 she performed as Adriana Lecouvreur at Tyrolean State Theatre of Innsbruck conducted by Angelico and directed by Klimek. This season she won the “Best female Adriana Lecouvreur performer” at Vienna Music Theatre Prize in 2016. 
Flores started the season 2016/2017 with the role of Elisabetta in Don Carlos at Opera Română Craiova . She also appeared again at Tyrolean State Theatre as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera . She debuted in southern Italy to make a new debut at :it:Teatro_Politeama_(Lecce)|Teatro Politeama in Lecce (Italy) to perform the role of Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly . In 2017 Flores made another debut at Staatstheater Braunschweig (Germany) as Floria Tosca in Tosca . 
The 2018 Flores opened the year in the role of Desdemona in Otello appearing for the first time at Teatro Filarmonico of Verona (Italy) . During this year Flores made her official debuts in other three theatres performing the role of Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (Italy) , at Teatro Regio di Torino (Italy) as Leonora in Il trovatore|Trovatore . Flores closed 2018 at The Kennedy Center Washington, DC (USA) in The War Requiem conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. 
2019 saw Flores perform again for the Mozart's Requiem at The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Mallorca. With Verdi's requiem, she made two new debuts at Kassel State Theater (Germany) conducted by Angelico , and at Kaunas state philharmonic hall (Lithuania) . In July 2019, she made her first appearance at the Heidenheim Opera Festival in the role of Lisa in Pique Dame . This year she also made her debut in "Armenia" at Yerevan Opera Theatre (Armenian National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet) in the role of Floria Tosca in Tosca, and the season 2019/2020 continued with Angelica's role in Suor Angelica at Tyrolean State Theatre of Innsbruck. 
== Honours and awards ==
* International competition "Flaviano Labo" in Piacenza
* International competition "Ottavio Ziino" in Rome
* International competition "Galina Vishnevskaya" in Moscow
Category:Russian operatic sopranos
Category:People from Shakhty