* En anglais uniquement
Thanks in part to the support of conductor
Daniel Barenboim, Georgian mezzo-soprano
Anita Rachvelishvili found places on the world's top operatic stages unusually quickly after finishing her studies. She has proven equally adept at French, Italian, and Russian opera.
Rachvelishvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, on September 28, 1984. Her musical education began with piano studies, but she switched to singing at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, where she studied with Manana Egadze and was supported by a scholarship from the office of the President of Georgia. Already performing major Italian roles while still in school, she was invited in 2007 to apply to the La Scala Academy in Milan. There she was heard by
Barenboim and invited to take the title role in a new production of Carmen he was developing. Her appearance at La Scala as Carmen, opposite star German tenor
Jonas Kaufmann, was a hit, and the role defined the first part of
Rachvelishvili's career. She has performed at, among other houses, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Seattle Opera, the San Francisco Opera, Teatro Regio in Turin, and the Canadian Opera Theater. Her repertoire has broadened beyond
Bizet to include Dalila in
Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, Dulcinée in
Massenet's Don Quichotte, and Konchakovna in Borodin's Prince Igor. At the Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit in 2012-2013, she sang the role of Amneris in
Verdi's Aida, and the following year she sang Aida at the Rome Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, and Covent Garden in London.
Rachvelishvili began performing vocal recitals with pianist David Aladashvili in 2015 and, unusually for an opera singer, she has led her own jazz band, performing at the Le Poisson Rouge club in New York.
Rachvelishvili was signed to the Sony Classical label and released her debut album,
Anita, in 2018.