Armand Tokatyan was an operatic tenor. An Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 born in Plovdiv

Plovdiv

Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, he travelled to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 with his parents where he sang in cafés to favorable response. He was then sent to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 to study tailoring, but instead sang in Left Bank cafés. In 1914, he returned to Egypt and earned his living by again singing in the cafés. He took up operetta

Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

, soon becoming a matinee idol

Matinee idol

Matinée idol is a term used mainly to describe film or theatre stars who are adored to the point of adulation by their fans.The term almost exclusively refers to male actors. Invariably the adulation was fixated on the actor's looks rather than performance...

, then in 1919 went to Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 to pursue an opera career. His operatic debut was in 1921 at the Teatro Dal Verme

Teatro Dal Verme

The Teatro Dal Verme is a theatre in Milan, Italy located on the Via San Giovanni sul Muro, on the site of the former private theatre the Politeama Ciniselli. It was designed by Giuseppe Pestagalli to a commission from Count Francesco Dal Verme, and was used primarily for plays and opera...

 in Puccini's Manon Lescaut

Manon Lescaut (Puccini)

Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost....

. With the help of Italian conductor Giuseppe Bamboschek

Giuseppe Bamboschek

Giuseppe Maria Bamboschek was an Italian-American opera conductor, pianist, organist, music director and film director. During his expansive career, Bamboschek conducted performances including famed singers Enrico Caruso, Rosa Ponselle, Giovanni Martinelli, Giuseppe De Luca, and many more...

, he joined the touring Scotti Opera Company

Antonio Scotti

Antonio Scotti was an Italian baritone. He was a principal artist of the New York Metropolitan Opera for more than 33 seasons, but also sang with great success at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Milan's La Scala.-Life:Antonio Scotti was born in Naples, Italy...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and was soon noticed by 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...

 where he debuted in 1923. For many years he performed there and at many other opera houses in the US and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. He was proficient in numerous languages. Many recordings were made of his performances.

Dorothy Kirsten in her autobiography writes the following about Tokatyan:

I recall how grateful I was to have him as a partner for my first performance of [La Traviata] at the Met because there had been no orchestra rehearsal. Tokatyan afforded me a sense of security, having sung Alfredo innumerable times in that theatre. His authority onstage and his ingratiating manner made me very comfortable. He seemed to be just right for the role. As Alfredo his noble appearance helped me create the illusion that I was desperately in love with him.

Tokatyan died in Pasadena

Pasadena, California

Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

, CA of a heart attack on June 12, 1960.

CD recordings

• Lebendige Vergangenheit - Armand Tokatyanhttp://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=21316