Babajanyan was born in
Yerevan. Her musical education began at the age of 6. She first learned to play the piano and in 1987 graduated from the Romanos Melikyan Music College in Yerevan as a piano teacher and piano accompanist. 6 years later a diploma as choirmaster followed at the
Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. There she also studied singing with
Tatevik Sazandaryan, and thus expanded her musical education to include a degree as an opera and concert singer as well as a singing teacher. In 1998 she completed her studies in solo singing with distinction. She completed her vocal training with
Mirella Parutto and
Dunja Vejzovic. From 1996 to 1999 Babajanyan was first engaged at the National Theatre in Yerevan. In 1999 she moved her professional focus to Germany, which has since become her second home. Her first engagements led her to the
Theater Koblenz and the
Bielefeld Opera, as a guest to the
Komische Oper Berlin, the
Staatsoper Hannover and the
Aalto Theater Essen. From 2003 to 2011 she was a member of the ensemble
Staatstheater Stuttgart. Since 2011 she has been working as a freelance artist. Her activity as a solo and concert singer led Babajanyan to the
Grand Théâtre de Genève, the
Müpa Budapest,
Det Kongelige Teater in Kopenhagen, the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, the
Teatro Politeama, Palermo, the
Semperoper Dresden, the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the
Opernhaus Zürich, the
Staatsoper Berlin, the
Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, the
Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Helsinki, the New
Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, the New National Theatre in Tokio, the
Opernhaus Graz, the
Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico-city, the
Cologne Opera, the
Nationaltheater Mannheim, the
Stadttheater Bern, the
Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the
Staatsoper Hamburg, the
Theater Basel, the
Oper Frankfurt and the Dorset Opera. She was also engaged by the
Bregenzer Festspiele, the
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the
Ruhrtriennale, the
Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the
Rheingau Musik Festival, the Prague Autumn International Music Festival, the
Nuit Blanche Reggio Calabria, the
DomStufen-Festspiele in Erfurt and the International Opera Festival Miskolc in Hungary. A highlight of her career in 2008 was her appearance as Puccini's
Tosca at the Bregenz Festival in the
James Bond film
Quantum of Solace with
Daniel Craig as James Bond. Babajanyan worked with the conductors
Daniel Oren,
Carlo Rizzi,
Nicola Luisotti,
Robin Ticciati,
Lothar Zagrosek,
Muhai Tang,
Stefan Soltesz,
Alexander Joel,
Helmuth Rilling, Piergiorgio Morandi,
José Cura,
Jonathan Nott, Carlo Montanaro, Julian Kovatchev and
Axel Kober and with the film directors
Werner Schroeter,
Peter Konwitschny,
Philipp Himmelmann,
Graham Vick,
Jossi Wieler,
Tatjana Gürbaca, Monique Wagemakers and
Dietrich Hilsdorf. Her repertoire includes the great soprano roles with
Mozart (Elettra, Elvira, Contessa, Fiordiligi) as well as various Italian roles. (Mimi, Cio-Cio-San, Manon Lescaut, Liù, Suor Angelica, Leonora in
Il trovatore, Elisabetta in
Don Carlo, Amelia in
Un ballo in maschera, Leonora in
La forza del destino, Desdemona, Maddalena in
Andrea Chénier, Nedda, Norma), but also Rachel from Halévy's
La Juive, Janáček's
Jenůfa, Tatjana from Tchaikowsky's
Eugene Onegin and Maria from Tchaikowsky's
Mazeppa. Her signature role is Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's
Madama Butterfly that she portrayed in 15 productions. At the Staatsoper Stuttgart she sang the role of
Carmen. She also made excursions into the German repertory with
Wagner and
Strauss. At the end of September 2014 she had her
premiere as Ariadne in Strauss'
Ariadne auf Naxos at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. In October 2015 Babajanyan made her debut as Elena in a new production of
Mefistofele alongside
Joseph Calleja and
René Pape at the
Bayerische Staatsoper . == Prizes and awards ==