Tokatyan, Armand

views updated

Tokatyan, Armand

Tokatyan, Armand, Bulgarian tenor of Armenian descent; b. Plovdiv, Feb. 12, 1896; d. Pasadena, Calif., June 12, 1960. He was educated in Alexandria, Egypt; then studied voice with Cairone in Milan and Wolf in Vienna. He made his operatic debut in Milan in 1921; then went to the U.S., where he toured with the Scotti Opera Co. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. on Nov. 19, 1922, as Turiddu in a concert performance of Cavalleria rusticana, and remained a member of the company, with interruptions, until 1946. He also made appearances in London, Berlin, and Vienna.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire