Ara Berberian Ara Berberian Ara Berberian (, May 14, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan - February 21, 2005 in Boynton Beach, Florida, ) was an American bass and actor who had an active international career in operas, concerts, and musicals from the early 1960s until his retirement from the stage in 1997. He notably had an 18-year association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where he gave a total of 334 performances between 1979-1997. He sang over 100 roles during his career, including those of Osmin in Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio" and Sparafucile in Verdi's "Rigoletto". Born in Detroit, Berberian
Stefanos Lazaridis Nightingale". He attracted attention for his designs for Antony Tudor's "Knight Errant" for the Royal Ballet's touring company in 1968, and was invited to design a new production of "Carmen" for the director John Copley at Sadler's Wells Opera in 1970. Lazaridis's early designs were naturalistic and lavish, and suited Copley's approach to production. They worked together both at English National Opera (ENO) ("The Seraglio", 1971, "Il trovatore", 1972) and Covent Garden ("Le nozze di Figaro", 1971, "Don Giovanni", 1973). In the 1980s, Lazaridis worked a great deal with David Pountney at ENO. His design style moved away from opulent