Opera Singer. A striking raven-haired soprano, she had a repertoire that covered over 2,000 years, from ancient Greek melodies to operatic roles and song cycles composed especially for her. Born in the Biblical city of Smyrna, she was raised in Athens where her Armenian parents had fled during the genocide of 1915. Arda trained at the Athens Conservatory under famed soprano and teacher Elvira de Hidalgo, singing many times with Maria Callas when both were unknown teenagers, and making her professional bow in a 1944 concert at which the two girls sang the duet "Mira, O Norma" from Bellini's "Norma". A meeting with two British musicians serving with the Royal Army in Athens led her to England in 1948 where she met composer and early music scholar Egon Wellesz; a 1949 concert at Morley College which included Greek folksongs and Delphic hymns gained critical praise and resulted in engagements at larger venues and her first BBC radio appearances and HMV recordings. Arda made her operatic debut in 1950 as Dido in part two of Hector Berlioz's "Les Troyens", later recording the role for HMV under Hermann Scherchen. Through the 1950s she had a major career in England; she was the First Witch, and later the Sorceress, in Henry Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas", the title character in Wellesz's "Incognita", and Emma Hamilton in Berkeley's "Nelson". The year 1953 was to see her debut at both the Paris Opera and at Covent Garden; she was Eurydice of Gluck's "Orfeo ed Eurydice" in Paris, while the Royal Opera cast her as a Niece in Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes" and as Musetta in Puccini's "La Boheme". Britten was to use her for multiple roles in an English Opera production of "The Rape of Lucretia" that toured Europe; he made her a regular at his Adelburgh Festival and wrote the role of Miss Jessel in his adaptation of Henry James' ghost story "The Turn of the Screw" for her, according her the honor of singing the September 14, 1954 Teatro La Fenice, Venice, world premiere and soon thereafter Sadler's Wells' first British performances. During the late 1950s she took on Alice Ford in Verdi's "Falstaff" and Elettra in Mozart's "Idomeneo" while remaining busy with concerts; she was a frequent guest at the Edinburgh Festival, at The BBC Proms, and on recital stages, singing a wide variety of music ancient and modern including the song cycle Mikis Theodorakis composed for her. Arda returned to Greece in the early 1960s to care for her elderly mother, her open opposition to the government of the time leading to travel restrictions and essentially ending her international career. From 1974 until 1980 she served as director of the Greek National Opera and later was president of the Maria Callas Society, administering the group's scholarships. Well into her old age she was a frequent honored guest at Greek musical functions; she lived out her days in Athens and died of the infirmities of age leaving a rather significant recorded legacy.