Wellesz arranged for her to give a recital that included Greek music written over two millennia.

[1] In that year she was singing in London's Covent Garden in Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten and in 1954 she appeared in Le Coq d’or by Rimsky-Korsakov again at the Royal Opera House.

It has been said that Britten made the part so close to Mandikian that it "sounds like Arda, whoever sings it".

Whilst she was back in Greece a military junta seized power there and Mandikian spoke out against them.

She could not sing opera as she would not take work in Greece and she feared that she would be exiled if she left the country.