About me

My Story

Early life
I am an Armenian opera singer, and inside the Armenian community, I am also known as Karina Grigoryan. I started to have music education at the age of seventeen years old at Shakhty musical college, and from 1999 to 2005 she studied at Rostov State Rachmaninov Conservatoire in Rostov (Russia). In 2006 I continued my studies at the opera studio named after P. Lisician with the opera singer R. Lisician in Moscow. In 2008 I was the winner of an Academic scholarship to study at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (Italy) for three years. During those years I was in conducting under my mentor the Italian soprano and opera director Renata Scotto.
 
 
Operatic Career
At the beginning of my career, I had several appearances with the Rostov State
Rachmaninov Conservatoire in Rostov (Russia) during the conservatory,
a Moscow Conservatory lecturer Sergey Yakovenko heard me. He invited me to
the Lisician opera studio for two weeks in Moscow. As a result of this trial,
Lisician studio introduced me to Helikon Opera Company for an audition
and I was engaged for eight seasons by this company. In 2006 Helikon Opera
organized a tour for the 100th anniversary of Shostakovich birth,
I performed the Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District as Katerina Ismajlova
in South Korea at Seognam Art Centre, Opera House. Between the 2008 and 2010,
I won the second prize in the international competitions
Flaviano Labo in Piacenza, the G. Vishnevskaya competition in Moscow winner
and Ottavio Ziino" in Rome. In 2009 I was invited by the Russian mezzo-soprano
Elena Obraztsova at Mikhajlovskij theatre in Saint Petersburg to perform
the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. During 2010/2011 season Flores
appeared as Aida in Aida at Novaja Opera and Opera de Massy in Paris,
at Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatrewith Peter Stein's direction
the role of Norma in Norma, at Opera de Massy in Paris as Katerina Ismajlova
in Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. During the season 2012/2013
I made my debut in Tel Aviv performing as Lisa in Pique Dame with
the Israeli Opera company conducted by Vladimir Jurowsky and this
performance was recorded by Helicon Classics and distributed in cd and DVD.
In Bangkok for the XV International Music Festival in Bangkok, an event
held under the patronage of the princesses of the Royal House of Thailand
as Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia.
In 2013 I was a finalist at 50° International Competition for Verdi voices. After this competition I was invited for the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi recital conducted by Francesco Ciluffo, she performed at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. 
For the season 2013/2014 I performed in Moscow, and Arbat as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera and I also sang in Naples (Italy) at Teatro San Carlo di Napoli (the oldest opera house in Europe) as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. 
During the season 2014/2015 I performed as Adriana Lecouvreur at Tyrolean State Theatre of Innsbruck conducted by Angelico and directed by Klimek. This season I won the “Best female Adriana Lecouvreur performer” at Vienna Music Theatre Prize in 2016. 
I started the season 2016/2017 with the role of Elisabetta in Don Carlos at Opera Română Craiova. I also appeared again at Tyrolean State Theatre as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. I went to southern Italy to make a new debut at Teatro Politeama in Lecce (Italy) to perform the role of Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly. In 2017 I made another debut at Staatstheater Braunschweig (Germany) as Floria Tosca in Tosca.
The 2018 I opened the year in the role of Desdemona in Otello appearing for the first time at Teatro Filarmonico of Verona (Italy). During this year I made my official debuts in other three theatres performing the role of Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (Italy), at Teatro Regio di Torino (Italy) as Leonora in Trovatore. And I closed 2018 at The Kennedy Center Washington, DC (USA) as soloist soprano in The War Requiem conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.
2019 saw me performing as soloist soprano again for the Mozart's Requiem at The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Mallorca. With Verdi's requiem as soloist soprano, and I made two new debuts at Kassel State Theater (Germany) conducted by Angelico, and at Kaunas state philharmonic hall (Lithuania). In July 2019, I made her first appearance at the Heidenheim Opera Festival in the role of Lisa in Pique Dame. This year I also made my debut in my beloved country "Armenia" at Yerevan Opera Theatre (Armenian National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet) in the role of Floria Tosca in Tosca, and the season 2019/2020 continued with Angelica's role in Suor Angelica at Tyrolean State Theatre of Innsbruck. During the season 2021-2022   I performed  as  Leonora in La Forza del Destino at Oper Klosterneuburg, while for the season 2022-2023, I performed  the role of  Aida at Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe and then I performed as Elisabetta in Don Carlo at Oper Klosterneuburg.