Gohar Şirinyan

Gohar Şirinyan — Biography

Gohar (Koharik) Şirinyan, an Ottoman-Armenian performer known in Armenian as Գոհարիկ Շիրինյան and sometimes rendered as Koharik Shirinian or Koharik Schirinian, was born in 1860 in Constantinople.

She made her stage debut in 1874 in a child's role at Agop Güllü's Gedikpaşa Theatre, then spent 1878-1880 singing as a soloist and taking on supporting parts. From 1882 she performed as a soprano with Serovpe Benliyan's opera troupe, and after that company closed she joined Mardiros Minakyan's theatrical troupe in 1887. She went on to play leading roles with the Ottoman Comedy Troupe for a decade, and is credited with helping bring Comédie-Française staging methods to the Ottoman stage.

Recognized as both a stage actress and an opera soprano, Şirinyan was among the leading Armenian performers of her era; she died in 1935.