Anita Rachvelishvili

Born in Tbilisi on September 28, 1984, when the city still lay within the Soviet republic of Georgia, mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili began musical training on the piano before transferring to vocal studies at the Tbilisi State Conservatory under Manana Egadze, aided by a scholarship from the Georgian presidential office. While still a student she tackled substantial Italian roles, and in 2007 she was encouraged to audition for the La Scala Academy in Milan. Conductor Daniel Barenboim heard her there and cast her as Carmen in a new production; her La Scala debut opposite Jonas Kaufmann proved an immediate success and shaped the opening phase of her career.

Barenboim’s endorsement also helped Rachvelishvili gain rapid entry to leading international houses, where she has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, and Canadian Opera Company. Her command of French, Italian, and Russian repertoire soon extended well beyond Bizet to encompass Dalila in Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, Dulcinée in Massenet’s Don Quichotte, and Konchakovna in Borodin’s Prince Igor. During the 2012–2013 season she sang Amneris in Verdi’s Aida at Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit; the following year she took the title role of Aida in several major European theaters.

In 2015 Rachvelishvili launched a recital partnership with pianist David Aladashvili, and she has also directed her own jazz ensemble, appearing at Le Poisson Rouge in New York. Signed to Sony Classical, she issued her first solo album, Anita, in 2018; that same year the label released An Italian Night: Live from the Waldbühne Berlin. She followed with the recital recording Élégie in 2021 and, in 2022, portrayed Santuzza in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s concert presentation of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, preserved on disc.