Soprano Lianna Haroutounian to replace disgraced Tamar Iveri in Sydney
By Caroline Geroyan - armenia.com.au | Thursday, 26 June 2014
Soprano, Lianna Haroutounian
Georgian opera singer Tamar Iveri will not be performing the lead role of Desdemona with Opera Australia in an upcoming production of Verdi’s Otello. Her contract was terminated due to comments posted on her Facebook page comparing gays and lesbians to faecal matter.
Instead, Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian will be fulfilling this role, making her debut with the company.
Ms Haroutounian sang the lead role of Desdemona recently at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Italy, and is no stranger to replacing indisposed sopranos. Last year she stood for for Marina Poplavskaya in the Royal Opera House's production of Verdi's Les Vêpres Siciliennes. Earlier that year she replaced Anja Harteros in the same company's production of Don Carlos. Both roles were accounted a success.
There was intense pressure on Opera Australia to take action against Ms Iveri after she labeled homosexuals "sewage" and "fecal masses" in a post on her Facebook page.
The post, criticising a gay pride march which had been organised to pass through the yard of an Orthodox Church Tbilisi, Georgia, had brought widespread condemnation, with patrons sharing their outrage on social media and Opera Australia sponsors Qantas and Mazda expressing their concern.
Ms Iveri has since apologised for the post and blamed her zealous Christian husband for writing in her name.
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