Gerald Papasian: it took me 9 months to translate Anoush opera text

PanARMENIAN.Net - “In 1971, a son of Italian immigrants, David DiChiera became the founding General Director of Michigan Opera Theatre. Later on, he succeeded in a complicated matter of opening Detroit Opera House, having secured governmental support and attracting sponsors.

It was then that he went on to fulfill one of his ideas of staging little-known foreign operas. One of my friends advised DiChiera to present Armenian opera, and turned to me for expert opinion. Having discussed a number of options we set our choice on Anoush,” Gerald Papasian recalled at the meeting with friends and admirers at Naregatsi Art Center.

“DiChiera approved of our choice; later he asked me to translate several arias into English to give audience an idea of its plot. David DiCiera was so happy with the translation presented that he literally made me translate the whole opera, asserting that was what he needed for the opera to be a success,” Gerald Papasian reminisced.

“It took me 9 months to translate Anoush opera text. By the time the wok was done, my family knew the opera by heart, as I sang every line in it to make sure the text fits in with the music.” Hard as the work was, the text was finally translated, and Anoush sang her famous aria in English.

Gerald Papasian even has a unique record of those parts of the opera, which were shot on its opening day. They are exotic for the Armenian audience.

Problems were faced everywhere – during preparation of costumes, even in finding the opera score for the orchestra. “When we asked to send us the score, we were told that there are two copies of it: one was kept at the Opera and Ballet Theater, while the other one – at Charents museum. We had to find а copier in Echmiadzin (it was in 1981), and the obtained copies were not good. In general, everything was difficult. Art people face many problems in the Diaspora. It is related to lack of state support, we have to do everything ourselves,” the director said.

Despite all the difficulties, the opera was staged at the American theater and even was labeled Best of the Michigan Opera Theater Season. It was staged once again at Detroit Opera Theatre in 20 years.

“The staging was dedicated to the 1700th anniversary of adoption of Christianity by Armenia as a state religion. I was working on translation of Arshak II opera by Dikran Tchouhadjian. There were problems also with it, as the opera’s original text was amended with respect to censorship, and I needed to define which variant of the opera should be staged – the amended or original one. Eventually, we staged the original version of it at San Francisco Opera. Michigan Opera Theater, as the first one, which staged Anoush opera, wanted to stage it once again but in Armenian language and with Armenian singers performing the roles of Anoush and Saro,” said Papasian.

These were his first but not last steps in presenting the Armenia culture to the world. In cooperation with actress Nora Armani, Gerald Papasian created Sojourn at Ararat performance, which exclusively contained Armenian poetry in English and French languages – from Vahagn’s era up to works of modern authors. The performance was first staged at Edinburgh festival, later it was staged on all continents, in 20 cities of the world for 11 years. And Papasian was awarded Drama-Logue Critics Award and Golden Star Halo theater prizes for it. Besides, the Armenian unions of theater workers and cinematographers awarded him with Best Actor of Cinema and Theater prize.

Gerald Papasian was already lecturing, but had not given up his translation activity. He has translated, adapted and directed Taparnigos, Ladies’ Dentist, by Hagop Baronian in London and the U.S. (Washington, Boston and New York). He created and directed the French version of it at the Theatre Firmin Gemier in Antony (Paris suburb) and the Theatre Dejazet in Paris.

Recently, through the assistance of Dikran Tchouhadjian Research Center and National Cultural Union, Gerald Papasian translated and directed Dikran Tchouhadjian’s Garine (Leblebidji) operetta at Rossini Theater of Paris.

Along with Armenian authors, he directed works of Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw. However, the professional development of the Armenian theatrical art and presentation of the Armenian culture at the world theatrical stages are his lifework.