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
Seraglio Seraglio A seraglio ( or ) or serail is the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in an Ottoman household. The term "harem" is a generic term for domestic spaces reserved for women in a Muslim family, which can also refer to the women themselves. The Ottoman imperial harem was known in Ottoman Turkish as "Harem-i Hümâyûn". The etymology of this Italian word is unclear. The Italian Treccani dictionary gives two derivations: one from Turkish "saray", from Persian "sarai" (), meaning "palace", or the enclosed courts for the wives and concubines of the harem of a house or