ANITA RACHVELISHVILI
Mezzo-soprano
Anita Rachvelishvili became internationally known when on December 7th, 2009, the opening night of the La Scala season, she sang the title role in Carmen opposite Jonas Kaufmann as Don José, in a production staged by Emma Date and conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
She has since debuted as Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper München, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Seattle Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Regio in Turin, with the Canadian Opera Company, and at the Arena di Verona, as well as making a return in the role to the Teatro alla Scala. Anita Rachvelishvili made her Netherlands debut when she sang her first Dalila in a concert performance of Samson et Dalila at the Concertgebouw. She has also been heard Dulcinée in Massenets Don Quichottein Toronto and in Cagliari. In the fall of 2011 Anita Rachvelishvili debuted at Carnegie Hall inAdriana Lecouvreur. Anita Rachvelishvili returned to the Staatsoper Berlin in as Lyubasha in the new production of Rimsky Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, staged by Dmitry Cherniakov and conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Performances for the 2013/2014 season included appearing as the Konschakowna in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Borodin’s Prince Igor which was the first time the company had performed this work since 1917. Shereturned to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Carmen. Earlier in the season, she sang as Carmen at the Staatsoper Berlin and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. She also returned to the Arena di Verona that season as Carmen and as Amneris in Aida. She ended the season with a solo recital at the Mariinskij Theatre in St. Petersburg. The 2014/2015 season began with a return to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Carmen. She also returned to the Teatro alla Scala for a new production of Aida led by Zubin Mehta and appears this season at the Teatro alla Scala as Carmen. She will also appear as Amneris in Aida at the Rome Opera She made herSalzburg Festival this season in their Easter Festival appearing in the Verdi Requiem under the direction of Christian Thielemann.
Engagements for the 2015-2016 season include her Paris Opera debut as Amneris, a role she will also sing that season in Turin. She debuts with the Netherlands Opera in a new production of "Khovanschina" and returns to Covent Garden as Carmen. She will also appear at the Teatro alla Scala in the Verdi Requiem.
Anita Rachvelishvili was born in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. She at first studied piano at the Mukhran Machavariani School and then singing at the Vano-Sarajishvili Conservatory with Manana Egadze. She received a stipend from the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, and in 2007 won the Paata Burchuladze Prize.
She debuted at the Arena di Verona in 2010 as Carmen and returned in the same role in 2012 and 2014; in 2014 she interpreted Amneris in Aida.
She returns for the 2015 Arena di Verona Festival in the role of Amneris in Aida and interprets Carmen in the Carmen Gala Concert.
SANJA ANASTASIA
Mezzosoprano
Mezzo-Soprano Sanja Anastasia studied music at the University of Music and performing Arts in Graz and Vienna. First parts in productions of the “Theater im Palais” in Graz, the “Schlosstheater Schönbrunn” and the “Volksoper” Vienna accompanied her studies. In the 2000/01 Season she received the scholarship of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Science in Austria. In 2005 she received her master degree and became an independent artist. She continued her vocal studies with Professor Dr. Theodore Coresi in Vienna.
Sanja Anastasia won numerous singing competitions such as the International Competitions “Jeunesses Musicales” in Belgrade, “Vincenzo Bellini” and “Enrico Caruso” in Italy and the Chamber Opera Competition “Schloss Rheinsberg” in Germany.
Her first professional engagements lead her onto the South African stages as Carmen, those of Slovakia as Maddalena (Rigoletto), those of Skopje as Isabella (L’Italiana in Algeri), and of Maribor as Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana under the baton of Karen Kamenšek).
In the season 2008/09 Sanja Anastasia made her successful debut at the Theater Aachen in Germany as Amneris (Aida) and Herodias (Salome) under the baton of Maestro Markus R. Bosch. In the same year she made her debut as Carmen at the National Theater Košice (Slovakia) and the National Opera Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina). Since then, she has been a permanent guest artist there.
In the 2011/12 season Anastasia became a member of the State Theatre Mainz and she was also a guest singer at the State Theater Saarbrücken (Larina), Theater Basel (Ulrica) and Sarajevo National Opera (Carmen).
Sanja Anastasia is able to perform a wide variety of parts as a dramatic Mezzo-Soprano. She sang the title role of Tchaikovsky’s Johanna d’Arc in Theater Erfurt, under the Baton of Maestro Walery Rywkin and sang Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera in Würzburg, Sarajevo, Mainz and Basel. As Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle Sanja Anastasia performed in Bremerhaven and Bremen. In the role of Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, as the Clytemnestra in Elektra , the Mescalina in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre and the Electress in The Prince of Homburg Anastasia had much success at the State Theater Mainz in Germany. The live performance of Henze's The Prince of Homburg was recorded for the German Radiobroadcast (conductor maestro Hermann Bäumer).
As princess of Eboli Anastasia will give her house debut in Verdi's Don Carlo at the Theater Lübeck, Germany in November 2013.
In the Summer of 2013 Sanja Anastasia made her debut in several productions at the famous Arena di Verona Opera Festival. She successfully celebrated the Centennial aniversary of the Arena Festival as Fenena in Nabucco with Placido Domingo (conducted by Julian Kovatchev) and as the extraordinary Amneris, under Daniel Oren. In the Autumn of 2014 she played the Principessa di Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatri del Circuito Lombardo (Como, Pavia, Cremona).
Anastasia appeared successfully as Carmen at the Aspenfos Festival in the Turkey (with Istanbul Opera and maestro Antonio Pirolli) and at the Open-air Festival in Steyr, Austria (maestro Neil Muus). She sung Amneris at the Open-air Festival in Gars am Kamp and in Salzburg (Grosses Festpielhaus with Prag State Opera) in Austria and at the La Perla Festival in the Switzerland.
She was also a guest at the Saint Donat Festival in Zadar (Carmen) in Croatia and on the Ohrid Summer Festival (Rigoletto/Maddalena) in Macedonia.
Currently Sanja Anastasia successfully performs on stages in Austria, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Japan.
In 2015 Anastasia sang Amneris for Sugi Opera Seoul Arts Center.
Furthermore Sanja Anastasia operates a rich concert repertoire. She performed with numerous orchestras, such as the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Fondazione Arena di Verona Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic and Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra "Stanislav Binicki" and the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and Bernstein's First Symphony ("Jeremiah") Sanja Anastasia opened the concert season 2012/13 and sung on a New Year Gala concert (TV broadcast) with world famous baritone Zeljko Lucic and tenor Zoran Todorovich.
With the Fondazione Arena she sang in the 2012 Gala Concert at the San Zeno Basilica and at the Arena she took part in the 2013 televised Opera Gala presented by Antonella Clerici.
She debuted at the Arena di Verona Opera Festival in 2013 singing in Verdi’s Nabucco, La Traviata, Aida and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette; in 2014 she took part in Un ballo in maschera, Aida and Carmen.
She returns for the 2015 Festival as Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco and as Amneris for Aida.
EKATERINA GUBANOVA
Mezzo-soprano
Ekaterina Gubanova is one of the finest mezzo-sopranos of recent generations. Her past appearances include performances in Opera Houses like the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera Chicago and the Teatro Real in Madrid. Gubanova was born in Moscow and began her musical studies as a pianist. An honorary graduate in choir conducting, Ekaterina studied opera singing at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), then she was a member of The Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, London. In 2005 she sang Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at Opera National de Paris with immense critical success. Since then she has reprised the role in Baden-Baden, Rotterdam, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, St.Petersburg and Munich, collaborating with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Riccardo Muti and Zubin Mehta. She sang Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre with Daniel Barenboim both at Staatsoper Berlin and Teatro alla Scala. Her Japanese debut was marked by her performance in Verdi’s Requiem, conducted by Riccardo Muti in Tokyo. With Muti Ekaterina made her debut in Italy as Clytemnestre in Iphigénie en Aulide at the Opera di Roma. In Russia she sang Principessa Eboli in Don Carlo at the Stars of the White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg, where she later returned as Lyubasha in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s bride and as Marguerite in Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust. After her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Prokofiev’s War and peace, she started a strong collaboration with the Company singing Giulietta in the new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann, conducted by M. James Levine, Eboli in Don Carlo during the Japan Tour 2011 and Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena, the opening production of the 2011/2012 season. In 2009 she debutedas Amnerisin Aida at theBayerischeStaatsoperwith DanieleGatti. She reprised this role again with Daniel Barenboim for theTeatroallaScalaTour in Japan and Israel. Ekaterina also sung Amneris with great success in Choregies d'Orange and St.Petersburg. In concert, she has sung the role of Jocasta in Oedipus Rex in London and Stockholm under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Elsewhere, Gubanova has been invited to perform Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Paris, Moscow, Seoul and Dublin; she also sang the Rückert Lieder in Wiesbaden. She returned to Rotterdam to sing Das Lied von der Erde to open their 2008 festival, and at the 2009 festival she presented songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. She also performed at the Sydney Opera and at the BBC PROMs under Mark Elder. She sang Verdi’s Requiem under the baton of Daniel Barenboim both with Teatro alla Scala and Staatsoper Berlin and with Gustavo Dudamel in Los Angeles. Her recent engagements include Anna Bolena at the Metropolitan; Die Walküre and Das Rheingold in Staatsoper Berlin, at La Scala and at the PROMs; Don Carlo at the Teatro alla Scala, Münich, St.Petersburg, Toulouse and New York; Verdi’s Requiem in Florence, Naples and St. Petersburg; Tristan und Isolde in Munich, Valencia, Tokyo, Salzburg and Madrid, Rusalka in Chicago, Werther in Berlin, Norma in Barcelona, Bluebeard's Castle in Toronto. Plans for the future seasons include Tristan und Isolde, Anna Bolena and Aida at Metropolitan Opera in New York, Aida in Vienna, Cavalleria rusticana in Berlin and Norma in Munich.
She debuts at the Arena di Verona singing for the 2015 Opera Festival as Amneris in Aida.
LUCRECIA GARCIA
Soprano
Born in Venezuela, Lucrecia Garcia began her musical studies as a violinist. After gaining experience as a concert artist for the Orquesta Sinfonica of Venezuela, in 1995 she began her vocal studies with Rosita Del Castillo. Shortly after that, she sang the role of Ortlinde in Die Walküre, conducted by Gregor Buhl.
In 1998 she moved to Spain to attend the Escuela Superior de Mùsica Reina Sofia in Madrid, where she studied with Alfredo Kraus and Teresa Berganza. Besides, she attended masterclasses given by Renata Scotto, Ileana Cotrubas, Tom Krause, Magda Olivero, Vincenzo Spatola.
During the first years of her career, she worked with Orquesta Nacional de España, Real Orquesta de Sevilla, Orquesta de Radio Televisiòn Espanola, Sinfonica de Galicia, Sinfonica Venezuela, Sinfonica de Santo Domingo, Sinfonica del Principado Asturias, and she performed at Auditorio Nacional de Musica de Madrid, Teatro Monumental, Maestranza de Sevilla, Arriaga de Bilbao, Cervantes de Malaga, conducted by Jiri Kout, Antoni Ros Marbà, Garcìa Asensio, Josep Pons, Vìctor Pablo, Juanjo Mena, Vasily Petrenko, Alvaro Albiach.
In 2001 she debuted with great reviews from public and critics the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Palacio de Festivales de Santander and at the Teatro de la Zarzuela de Madrid. After that, she sang Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Teresa Berganza conducted by Peter Csabà, and the role of Clarice (Il Mondo della Luna) at the Teatro Lliure de Barcelona. Then she was Salud in a concert version of Manuel de Falla’s La Vida Breve with Orquesta Nacional de Lorreine under the Jacques Mercier’s conduction, and Suor Angelica in a production of the Alcalà University of Heneres with scenic direction by Giancarlo Del Monaco. During the following years, she performed Aida in Madrid and Segovia, and in 2008 she was highly acclaimed for her USA debut at the Seattle Opera with Aida conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Further highlights include Aida in Athens, Oman, Qatar and Berlin Staatsoper, Don Carlo in Frankfurt and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mefistofele in Valencia, Attila at La Scala, Terme di Caracalla in Rome, Palace of the Arts in Budapest, in Seattle and San Francisco, Aida and Nabucco at the Arena di Verona, Norma in Salerno, I Masnadieri in Naples, I due Foscari in Palermo. In the recent seasons she sang Nabucco, Macbeth and Il Trovatore at La Scala, Un Ballo in Maschera in Frankfurt, Attila at the Theater an der Wien, again Nabucco and Aida at the Arena di Verona, Aida at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and Teatro San Carlo in Naples, a concert version of Attila in Warsaw, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Most recently, she successfully debuted the roles of Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana) at the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Turandot at the Dresden Semperoper and Amneris (Aida) at the Arena di Verona. Moreover, she sang Verdi’s Requiem at the NCPA in Mumbai. Future plans include: Aida (title role) with the St. Louis Symphony, Aida (Amneris) at Arena di Verona, Nabucco in Oviedo, Don Carlo in Frankfurt.