<<  -- 8 --  Jennifer I Paull    HIGH JINX AND HAUTE COUTURE

She and I spent many hours tracking down accessories for her performances; but that is another story ...

To know whether you are enjoying a piece of music or not you must see whether you find yourself looking at the advertisements of Pears' soap at the end of the libretto. -- Samuel Butler (1835-1902), British author, 'Samuel Butler's Notebooks'

Nobody ever did.

Daughter of those in exile, forever an outsider in her adopted home-lands; a woman in a man's world, intelligent way and above the 'expected' level of a singer-performer, Cathy Berberian won and upheld her place thanks to her gift for comedy. That treasured resource of the oppressed (of which Jankélévitch spoke), was her liberation. -- Marie Christine Vila [translated by this author with full consent]

Thanks to the generosity of Berlin-based Mr Tatewos Dshorknzjan, there is a Cathy Berberian Scholarship established in her name at the Yerevan Conservatory. After having produced a most successful Hommage à Cathy Berberian in 2005 upon the occasion of her 80th birthday, he has exciting plans for her 85th; namely a statue to stand beside those of Aram Katchaturian and William Saroyan in the Armenian capital's Pantheon. He is also militant in the establishing of an Auditorium Berberian at the Yerevan Conservatory. For the latest information on Cathy Berberian, regular visits to her site are a must!