Lili Chookasian
Encyclopedia
Lili Chookasian is an American
contralto
who has appeared with many of the world's major symphony orchestras and opera house
s. She began her career in the 1940s as a concert singer but did not draw wider acclaim until she began singing opera
in her late thirties. She arose as one of the world's leading contraltos during the 1960s and 1970s, and notably had a long and celebrated career at the Metropolitan Opera
in New York City from 1962 through 1986. She was admired for her sonorous, focused tone as well as her excellent musicianship. She often chose, against tradition, to sing oratorios from memory.
, the youngest of three children to immigrants from Armenia
. Her family had immigrated to the United States shortly after the Armenian Genocide
of 1915 which claimed the lives of two of Chookasian's grandparents and several members of her extended family. Chookasian's first language was Armenian, as her parents spoke that language in the home. She only became proficient speaking English through attending school as a child.
Chookasian first became involved with music through singing at local churches and in musical programs at her high school, notably appearing as Buttercup in her school's production of H.M.S. Pinafore
. After high school she began studying singing seriously with Philip Manuel with whom she took lessons for almost twenty years. In her late teens she started earning money singing for churches and on the radio. In 1941, at the age of twenty, she married George Gavejian who was a friend of her older brother. They had a very happy marriage that lasted for forty-six years, ending when Gavejian died in 1987. They had several children and eleven grandchildren together.
Chookasian began performing professionally as an oratorio
and concert singer in the 1940s, mostly in Chicago but also occasionally out of town. The biggest triumph of her early concert career was in January 1955 when she was chosen by Bruno Walter
as the contralto soloist for Mahler's Symphony No. 2
with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
. During this time she was also on the voice faculty at Northwestern University
.
In 1956 Chookasian was diagnosed with breast cancer
and her physicians gave her six months to live. With the support of her loved ones she decided to fight the cancer. She underwent a radical mastectomy
, which was further complicated by a widespread infection that required three additional surgeries. With continuous medical attention and the support of her family she prevailed and her life slowly returned to normal.
appearance, making her debut as Adalgisa in Bellini
's Norma
with the Arkansas State Opera (ASO). Edward McGuire
, founder and stage director of the ASO, offered her the part after soprano Barbara Stevenson, who sang Norma, recommended her. Stevenson gave McGuire a recording of a Messiah
that she had sung with Chookasian in Salt Lake City and, after hearing the recording, McGuire knew he wanted Chookasian to sing the part.
Chookasian's debut performance was a resounding success and a recording of that performance was given to conductor Thomas Schippers
by McGuire at the Festival of Two Worlds
the following summer. McGuire recalls, "He was astonished by Lili's voice, but he had nothing in mind for her at the time." However, two years later Schippers wanted "that extraordinary Adalgisa from Arkansas" for a concert performance of Prokofiev
's Alexander Nevsky
with the New York Philharmonic
(NYP). However, he could not remember her name and was unable to track her down until a chance meeting with Sheldon Soffer tipped him off that she was working with the Baltimore Opera Company
under Rosa Ponselle
. Chookasian had spent the last year studying under Ponselle and had created her second opera role on stage with the company, Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore
in 1960. Schippers contacted Chookasian to come up for an audition, and after hearing her, she was immediately engaged to sing the role of Amelfa Timoferevna for her NYP debut in early 1961.
Shortly after her NYP debut, Chookasian was offered a contract with the Metropolitan Opera
by Rudolph Bing
but turned it down because she was afraid it would take too much time away from her family. In the summer of 1961 she repeated the role of Amelfa Timoferevna for European debut at the Festival dei Due Mondi
, again under the baton of Schippers. She also made her European opera debut at the festival under Schippers as Herodias in Salome
. She sang Herodias again just a month later at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi and also gave a lauded performance of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder
, accompanied by Charles Wadsworth
at the Teatro Caio Melisso
that summer. The following November she headed back to Baltimore to sing her first Amneris in Verdi's Aida
.
In the midst of Chookasian's breakout 1961 season she discovered another lump in her other breast. She told no one, fulfilled her commitments in New York, Baltimore, and Europe, and then finally sought a doctor's care in November 1961 after finishing up performance of Aida. She went through another mastectomy, after which her prognosis was good; the cancer had not spread, and she recovered quickly.
's La Gioconda
with Zinka Milanov
in the title role, Franco Corelli
as Enzo, Nell Rankin
as Laura, Robert Merrill
as Barnaba, Giorgio Tozzi
as Alvise, and Fausto Cleva
conducting. During the performance Francis Robinson
, then assistant general manager at the Met, had the house phones hooked up so Rosa Ponselle could hear Chookasian's entrance over the telephone at her home. Ponselle, who had developed a strong personal friendship with Chookasian as well as being her opera mentor, recalled "It not only brought back such wonderful memories, but it was another Force of Destiny." The audience and the critics responded enthusiastically to her performance. Paul Henry Lang
wrote in his review that "From what we heard last night, we may predict a splendid career for the young lady from Chicago." This was the beginning of a more than two decade long career at the Met, during which time Chookasian was coached privately with Armen Boyajian.
During her 24 year long career with the company, Chookasian sang many principal contralto roles and a number of secondary parts. Her roles included Adalgisa, Amneris in Aida
, Auntie in Peter Grimes
, Azucena, Death in Le Rossignol, Erda in Das Rheingold
and Siegfried
, Filippyevna in Eugene Onegin
, the First Norn in Götterdämmerung
, Frugola in Il Tabarro
, Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande
, Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel, the Grandmother in Jenůfa
, Leocadia Begbick in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
, Madelon from Andrea Chénier
, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana
, Marthe in Faust
, Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff
, the Nurse in Boris Godunov
, the Princess in Suor Angelica
, Teresa from La Sonnambula
, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera
, the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel, and Zita in Gianni Schicchi
among others. She also notably sang the role of Maharanee in the United States premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti
's The Last Savage
in a cast that included George London, Nicolai Gedda
, Roberta Peters
and Teresa Stratas
.
During her career at the Met, Chookasian sang with many great singers like Carlo Bergonzi
, Richard Cassilly
, Franco Corelli
, Phyllis Curtin
, Mattiwilda Dobbs
, William Dooley
, Plácido Domingo
, Reri Grist
, Anna Moffo
, Birgit Nilsson
, Leontyne Price
, Gail Robinson, Leonie Rysanek
, Joan Sutherland
, Renata Tebaldi
, and Richard Tucker
among others. In 1984, during a performance of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, she suffered a minor heart attack on stage and was unable to continue the performance. After this her performance career slowed down somewhat and her last performance at the Met was on February 17, 1986 as Gertrude in Gounod
's Roméo et Juliette
with Neil Shicoff
as Roméo and Catherine Malfitano
as Juliette. Her 290th performance with the company, was also her farewell to the opera stage.
While the Met was her major home, Chookasian also remained active as a concert performer and sang in opera houses both in the United States and Europe. She quickly became one of the leading contraltos performing on the international stage during the 1960s and 1970s, singing under Georg Solti
, Leonard Bernstein
, James Levine
, Zubin Mehta
, Seiji Ozawa
, Fritz Reiner
, Karl Böhm
, Herbert von Karajan
, Lorin Maazel
, and many other great conductors with such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra
, the Cleveland Orchestra
, the London Symphony Orchestra
, and the Vienna Philharmonic among others. She was particularly admired worldwide for her performances in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde
, Schoenberg
's Gurre-Lieder
and above all Verdi's Requiem
. Of the latter work Chookasian stated, "Every note of the Requiem seemed written for my throat". Under Eugene Ormandy
she recorded Das Lied von der Erde for Columbia Masterworks, and she opened the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in August 1966, again with Ormandy. With Leonard Bernstein, she was one of the many soloists in his recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8
. Among her many other recordings are Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic under Bernstein, the First Norn in Götterdämmerung with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan
, and Verdi's Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
under Erich Leinsdorf
to name just a few.
On the opera stage Chookasian returned to the Spoletto Festival in 1962 to sing Clarissa in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges. In 1963 she made her first of several appearances at the New York City Opera
in the title role of Menotti's The Medium
. She made her first appearance at the Bayreuth festival
in 1965 singing in three of her Wagner roles: Mary, the First Norn, and Erda. In 1966 she made her first appearances with the Montreal Opera and the American Opera Society
. In 1970 she made her debut with the San Francisco Opera
as Mistress Quickly. In 1973 she sang Amneris at the Palacio de Bellas Artes
in Mexico City
and sang Erda in Siegfried for her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
. In 1976 she notably sang in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri
's Inés de Castro
and sang Ulrica with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
. She also appeared with the Zurich Opera
, the Salzburg Festival
, the New Orleans Opera
, the Houston Grand Opera
, and other companies in the United States and Europe. Chookasian would often bring her husband with her when she traveled as his work in real estate was flexible enough for him to travel. Chookasian fondly recounted one of her most memorable trips to Yerevan, Armenia in a 1997 Opera News
interview. Chookasian was invited to the city to perform in two productions mounted in her honor: Amneris in Aida and the Armenian composer Dikran Tchouhadjian
's opera Arshak II
.
After retiring from the stage in 1986, Chookasian joined the voice faculty at Yale University
's School of Music
at the invitation of Doris Yarick-Cross. She still teaches at Yale and currently resides in New Haven, Connecticut
.
In 2002 she was awarded the university's Sanford Medal.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
who has appeared with many of the world's major symphony orchestras and opera house
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
s. She began her career in the 1940s as a concert singer but did not draw wider acclaim until she began singing opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in her late thirties. She arose as one of the world's leading contraltos during the 1960s and 1970s, and notably had a long and celebrated career at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York City from 1962 through 1986. She was admired for her sonorous, focused tone as well as her excellent musicianship. She often chose, against tradition, to sing oratorios from memory.
Early life and concert career:1921-1958
Chookasian was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, the youngest of three children to immigrants from Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. Her family had immigrated to the United States shortly after the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
of 1915 which claimed the lives of two of Chookasian's grandparents and several members of her extended family. Chookasian's first language was Armenian, as her parents spoke that language in the home. She only became proficient speaking English through attending school as a child.
Chookasian first became involved with music through singing at local churches and in musical programs at her high school, notably appearing as Buttercup in her school's production of H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
. After high school she began studying singing seriously with Philip Manuel with whom she took lessons for almost twenty years. In her late teens she started earning money singing for churches and on the radio. In 1941, at the age of twenty, she married George Gavejian who was a friend of her older brother. They had a very happy marriage that lasted for forty-six years, ending when Gavejian died in 1987. They had several children and eleven grandchildren together.
Chookasian began performing professionally as an oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
and concert singer in the 1940s, mostly in Chicago but also occasionally out of town. The biggest triumph of her early concert career was in January 1955 when she was chosen by Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
as the contralto soloist for Mahler's Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. Apart from the Eighth Symphony, this symphony was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime. It is his first major work that would eventually mark his...
with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
. During this time she was also on the voice faculty at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
.
In 1956 Chookasian was diagnosed with breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
and her physicians gave her six months to live. With the support of her loved ones she decided to fight the cancer. She underwent a radical mastectomy
Radical mastectomy
Radical mastectomy is a surgical procedure in which the breast, underlying chest muscle , and lymph nodes of the axilla are removed as a treatment for breast cancer....
, which was further complicated by a widespread infection that required three additional surgeries. With continuous medical attention and the support of her family she prevailed and her life slowly returned to normal.
An opera career begins:1959-1961
It wasn't until 1959, at the age of 38, that Chookasian made her first operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
appearance, making her debut as Adalgisa in Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
with the Arkansas State Opera (ASO). Edward McGuire
Edward McGuire
Edward McGuire may refer to:* Eddie McGuire, Australian television personality* Edward McGuire , Irish artist* Edward McGuire , British composer* Edward McGuire , Irish tennis player from the 1920s...
, founder and stage director of the ASO, offered her the part after soprano Barbara Stevenson, who sang Norma, recommended her. Stevenson gave McGuire a recording of a Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
that she had sung with Chookasian in Salt Lake City and, after hearing the recording, McGuire knew he wanted Chookasian to sing the part.
Chookasian's debut performance was a resounding success and a recording of that performance was given to conductor Thomas Schippers
Thomas Schippers
Thomas Schippers was an American conductor. He was highly-regarded for his work in opera.-Biography:...
by McGuire at the Festival of Two Worlds
Festival dei Due Mondi
The Festival dei Due Mondi ' is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958...
the following summer. McGuire recalls, "He was astonished by Lili's voice, but he had nothing in mind for her at the time." However, two years later Schippers wanted "that extraordinary Adalgisa from Arkansas" for a concert performance of Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
's Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Nevsky (film)
Alexander Nevsky is a 1938 historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, in association with Dmitri Vasilyev and a script co-written with Pyotr Pavlenko, who were assigned to ensure Eisenstein did not stray into "formalism" and to facilitate shooting on a reasonable timetable...
with the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
(NYP). However, he could not remember her name and was unable to track her down until a chance meeting with Sheldon Soffer tipped him off that she was working with the Baltimore Opera Company
Baltimore Opera Company
The Baltimore Opera Company was an opera company in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., based at the Baltimore Lyric Opera House. On March 12, 2009, the 58-year-old opera company announced plans to pursue Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation....
under Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Ponselle , was an American operatic soprano with a large, opulent voice. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered by music critics to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the past 100 years.-Early life:She was born Rosa Ponzillo on January 22, 1897,...
. Chookasian had spent the last year studying under Ponselle and had created her second opera role on stage with the company, Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
in 1960. Schippers contacted Chookasian to come up for an audition, and after hearing her, she was immediately engaged to sing the role of Amelfa Timoferevna for her NYP debut in early 1961.
Shortly after her NYP debut, Chookasian was offered a contract with the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
by Rudolph Bing
Rudolph Bing
Sir Rudolf Bing was an Austrian-born opera impresario who worked in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, most notably being General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1950 to 1972...
but turned it down because she was afraid it would take too much time away from her family. In the summer of 1961 she repeated the role of Amelfa Timoferevna for European debut at the Festival dei Due Mondi
Festival dei Due Mondi
The Festival dei Due Mondi ' is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958...
, again under the baton of Schippers. She also made her European opera debut at the festival under Schippers as Herodias in Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
. She sang Herodias again just a month later at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi and also gave a lauded performance of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder
Kindertotenlieder
Kindertotenlieder is a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler...
, accompanied by Charles Wadsworth
Charles Wadsworth
Charles Wadsworth is a classical pianist and musical promoter, who gained international renown in 1960 by originating the Midday Concerts at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. He also started the chamber music concert series at the Spoleto Festival USA, which he directs, performs at and...
at the Teatro Caio Melisso
Teatro Caio Melisso
The Teatro Caio Melisso is an opera house located in Spoleto, Italy and it serves as the main venue for opera performances during the annual summer Festival dei Due Mondi....
that summer. The following November she headed back to Baltimore to sing her first Amneris in Verdi's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
.
In the midst of Chookasian's breakout 1961 season she discovered another lump in her other breast. She told no one, fulfilled her commitments in New York, Baltimore, and Europe, and then finally sought a doctor's care in November 1961 after finishing up performance of Aida. She went through another mastectomy, after which her prognosis was good; the cancer had not spread, and she recovered quickly.
Metropolitan Opera years:1962-1986
After returning to the United States, Chookasian was approached by Rudolph Bing again to join the roster at the Metropolitan Opera. This time she relented and made her debut with the company on March 9, 1962 as La Cieca in PonchielliAmilcare Ponchielli
Amilcare Ponchielli was an Italian composer, largely of operas.-Biography:Born in Paderno Fasolaro, now Paderno Ponchielli, near Cremona, Ponchielli won a scholarship at the age of nine to study music at the Milan Conservatory, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old.Two years...
's La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
with Zinka Milanov
Zinka Milanov
Zinka Milanov was a Croatian-born operatic spinto soprano who had a major career centred on the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:...
in the title role, Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli was a famous Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, a...
as Enzo, Nell Rankin
Nell Rankin
Nell Rankin was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. Although a successful opera singer internationally, she spent most of her career at the Metropolitan Opera where she worked from 1951-1976. Rankin was particularly admired for her portrayals of Amneris in Verdi's Aida and the title role in...
as Laura, Robert Merrill
Robert Merrill
Robert Merrill was an American operatic baritone.-Early life:Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife Lillian, née Balaban, immigrants from Warsaw, Poland.His mother...
as Barnaba, Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi was for many years a leading bass with the Metropolitan Opera, as well as playing lead roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide.-Career:Tozzi was born George John Tozzi in Chicago, Illinois...
as Alvise, and Fausto Cleva
Fausto Cleva
Fausto Cleva was an Italian-born American operatic conductor.After studies at the Conservatorio in his native city and Milan, Cleva made his debut conducting La traviata in Carcano, near Milan, before emigrating to the United States in 1920, becoming an American citizen in 1931...
conducting. During the performance Francis Robinson
Francis Robinson
Professor Francis Christopher Rowland Robinson is a British academic who was awarded a CBE in 2006 for his services to higher education and his research into the history of Islam....
, then assistant general manager at the Met, had the house phones hooked up so Rosa Ponselle could hear Chookasian's entrance over the telephone at her home. Ponselle, who had developed a strong personal friendship with Chookasian as well as being her opera mentor, recalled "It not only brought back such wonderful memories, but it was another Force of Destiny." The audience and the critics responded enthusiastically to her performance. Paul Henry Lang
Paul Henry Lang
Paul Henry Lang was a Hungarian-American musicologist and music critic....
wrote in his review that "From what we heard last night, we may predict a splendid career for the young lady from Chicago." This was the beginning of a more than two decade long career at the Met, during which time Chookasian was coached privately with Armen Boyajian.
During her 24 year long career with the company, Chookasian sang many principal contralto roles and a number of secondary parts. Her roles included Adalgisa, Amneris in Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, Auntie in Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
, Azucena, Death in Le Rossignol, Erda in Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre...
and Siegfried
Siegfried (opera)
Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring...
, Filippyevna in Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
, the First Norn in Götterdämmerung
Götterdämmerung
is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen...
, Frugola in Il Tabarro
Il tabarro
Il tabarro is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on Didier Gold's play La houppelande. It is the first of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
, Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
, Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel, the Grandmother in Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
, Leocadia Begbick in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed in Leipzig on 9 March 1930.-Composition history:...
, Madelon from Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, Marthe in Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, the Nurse in Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
, the Princess in Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
, Teresa from La Sonnambula
La sonnambula
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
, the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel, and Zita in Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
among others. She also notably sang the role of Maharanee in the United States premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's The Last Savage
The Last Savage
The Last Savage is an opera in three acts by composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Menotti wrote his own libretto, originally in the Italian language . The opera was translated into French by Jean-Pierre Marty for the work's world premiere performance at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 21 October 1963...
in a cast that included George London, Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...
, Roberta Peters
Roberta Peters
Roberta Peters is an American coloratura soprano.One of the most prominent American singers to achieve lasting fame and success in opera, Peters is noted for her 35-year association with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York...
and Teresa Stratas
Teresa Stratas
Teresa Stratas, OC , is a retired Canadian operatic soprano. She is especially well-known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu.-Early life and career:...
.
During her career at the Met, Chookasian sang with many great singers like Carlo Bergonzi
Carlo Bergonzi
Carlo Bergonzi is an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and verismo roles, he is above all associated with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, including a large number of the composer's lesser-known works that he helped revive...
, Richard Cassilly
Richard Cassilly
Richard Cassilly was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954 and 1990...
, Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli was a famous Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, a...
, Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin is an American classical soprano who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She was known for her creation of new roles such as the title role in the Carlisle Floyd opera Susannah, Catherine Earnshaw in Floyd's Wuthering Heights, and in...
, Mattiwilda Dobbs
Mattiwilda Dobbs
Mattiwilda Dobbs is an African-American coloratura soprano and one of the first black singers to enjoy a major international career in opera...
, William Dooley
William Dooley
William Dooley is an American operatic bass-baritone who has sung with many of the world's greatest opera companies. He began his career in Germany in the late 1950s, ultimately becoming a leading performer at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1962-1964...
, Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Reri Grist
Reri Grist
Reri Grist is an American coloratura soprano, one of the pioneer African-American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera.-Biography:...
, Anna Moffo
Anna Moffo
Anna Moffo was an Italian-American opera singer and one of the leading lyric-coloratura sopranos of her generation...
, Birgit Nilsson
Birgit Nilsson
right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...
, Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
, Gail Robinson, Leonie Rysanek
Leonie Rysanek
Leopoldine "Leonie" Rysanek was an Austrian dramatic soprano.-Biography:Rysanek was born in Vienna and made her operatic debut in 1949 in Innsbruck. In 1951 the Bayreuth Festival reopened and the new leader Wieland Wagner asked her to sing Sieglinde...
, Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period...
, and Richard Tucker
Richard Tucker
Richard Tucker was an American operatic tenor.-Early life:Tucker was born Rivn Ticker in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of Romanian immigrants from Bessarabia. His father, Shmul Ticker, and mother Fanya-Tsipa Ticker had already adopted the surname "Tucker" by the time their son entered first...
among others. In 1984, during a performance of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, she suffered a minor heart attack on stage and was unable to continue the performance. After this her performance career slowed down somewhat and her last performance at the Met was on February 17, 1986 as Gertrude in Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
with Neil Shicoff
Neil Shicoff
Neil Shicoff is an American Jewish opera singer and cantor known for his lyric tenor singing and his dramatic, emotional acting.- Beginnings :...
as Roméo and Catherine Malfitano
Catherine Malfitano
Catherine Malfitano is an American operatic soprano. She is generally considered to be one of America's leading operatic sopranos...
as Juliette. Her 290th performance with the company, was also her farewell to the opera stage.
While the Met was her major home, Chookasian also remained active as a concert performer and sang in opera houses both in the United States and Europe. She quickly became one of the leading contraltos performing on the international stage during the 1960s and 1970s, singing under Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
, Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
, Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
, Fritz Reiner
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...
, Karl Böhm
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...
, Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
, Lorin Maazel
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...
, and many other great conductors with such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
, the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
, the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, and the Vienna Philharmonic among others. She was particularly admired worldwide for her performances in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde
Das Lied von der Erde
Das Lied von der Erde is a large-scale work for two vocal soloists and orchestra by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler...
, Schoenberg
Schoenberg
Schoenberg is the surname of several persons:* Arnold Schoenberg , Austrian-American composer* Claude-Michel Schoenberg , French record producer, actor, singer, popular songwriter, and musical theatre composer...
's Gurre-Lieder
Gurre-Lieder
Gurre-Lieder is a massive cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen...
and above all Verdi's Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
. Of the latter work Chookasian stated, "Every note of the Requiem seemed written for my throat". Under Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
she recorded Das Lied von der Erde for Columbia Masterworks, and she opened the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in August 1966, again with Ormandy. With Leonard Bernstein, she was one of the many soloists in his recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8
Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand", although the work is often performed with fewer than a...
. Among her many other recordings are Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic under Bernstein, the First Norn in Götterdämmerung with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
, and Verdi's Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
under Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf was a naturalized American Austrian conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality...
to name just a few.
On the opera stage Chookasian returned to the Spoletto Festival in 1962 to sing Clarissa in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges. In 1963 she made her first of several appearances at the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
in the title role of Menotti's The Medium
The Medium
The Medium is a short two-act dramatic opera with words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by Columbia University, its first performance was there on 8 May 1946. The opera's first professional production was presented on a double bill with Menotti's The Telephone at the Heckscher...
. She made her first appearance at the Bayreuth festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
in 1965 singing in three of her Wagner roles: Mary, the First Norn, and Erda. In 1966 she made her first appearances with the Montreal Opera and the American Opera Society
American Opera Society
The American Opera Society was a New York City based musical organization that presented concert and semi-staged performances of operas between 1951 and 1970...
. In 1970 she made her debut with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
as Mistress Quickly. In 1973 she sang Amneris at the Palacio de Bellas Artes
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the most important cultural center in Mexico City as well as the rest of the country of Mexico...
in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and sang Erda in Siegfried for her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
. In 1976 she notably sang in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri
Thomas Pasatieri
Thomas Pasatieri is an American opera composer.He began composing at age 10 and, as a teenager, studied with Nadia Boulanger...
's Inés de Castro
Inês de Castro
Inês Peres de Castro was a Galician noblewoman born of a Portuguese mother...
and sang Ulrica with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
The Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was active between 1958 and 1974. The company was led by a number of Artistic Directors during its history, beginning with Aurelio Fabiani. Other notable Artistic Directors include Julius...
. She also appeared with the Zurich Opera
Zurich Opera
Oper Zürich is an opera company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company gives performances in the Opernhaus Zürich which has been the company’s home for fifty years.-History:...
, the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
, the New Orleans Opera
New Orleans Opera
Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to...
, the Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, and other companies in the United States and Europe. Chookasian would often bring her husband with her when she traveled as his work in real estate was flexible enough for him to travel. Chookasian fondly recounted one of her most memorable trips to Yerevan, Armenia in a 1997 Opera News
Opera News
Opera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
interview. Chookasian was invited to the city to perform in two productions mounted in her honor: Amneris in Aida and the Armenian composer Dikran Tchouhadjian
Dikran Tchouhadjian
Tigran Tchouhadjian was an Armenian composer, conductor, public activist and the founder of the first opera institution in the Ottoman Empire.- Biography :...
's opera Arshak II
Arshak II
Arshak II or Arsaces II, was the son of King Tiran and was himself king of Armenia from 350 to 367.- Reign :In the early years of Arshak's reign, he found himself courted by the empires of Rome and Persia, both of which hope to win Armenia to their side in the ongoing conflicts between them...
.
After retiring from the stage in 1986, Chookasian joined the voice faculty at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
's School of Music
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
at the invitation of Doris Yarick-Cross. She still teaches at Yale and currently resides in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
.
In 2002 she was awarded the university's Sanford Medal.