Due to the severe pandemic situation, it has been a year since almost all opera houses in the world have been closed and unable to hold performances. The creative life is coming back to us at a slow pace, although most opera houses are still choosing online performances only, broadcasting them without guests in attendance. Yet the beautiful and ancient Opera House of Naples is to host a performance of Verdi’s opera “La Traviata” from May 14 to May 23 in the presence of an audience, with world-famous Georgian singer George Gagnidze as the main baritone role. Gagnidze will perform Giorgio Germont’s role with two different cast crews, in 7 plays.
George Gagnidze is one of the most famous Georgian opera singers, being regularly invited by the most prestigious international opera companies, among them the Teatro Alla Scala, National Opera de Bastile, Teatro Real Madrid, Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Opera Berlin, Vienna State Opera, and Arena di Verona. Performances of the 2019/20 season included his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Germont in La Traviata, the title role of Nabucco at the Deutsche Opera Berlin, Iago in Otello for his debut at the Washington National Opera, as well as Scarpia in Tosca at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
Born in Tbilisi and trained at the State Conservatory of his hometown, George Gagnidze debuted as Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera in 1996 at the Paliashvili State Opera. He entered the “Concorso Voci Verdiane” in 2005 as an award-winner of the “Leyla Gencer Voice Competition” and the “Elena Obraztsova Competition”. The jury, chaired by José Carreras and Katia Ricciarelli, awarded him first prize for his outstanding vocal interpretation. After launching his international career from Germany, he was soon engaged by many of the world’s most important opera houses.
In the course of his career, Gagnidze, who has now mastered the genre of dramatic heroic baritone, has worked with many renowned conductors and directors, including James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Fabio Luisi, James Conlon, Plácido Domingo, Mikko Franck, Jesús López-Cobos, Nicola Luisotti, Daniel Oren, Gianandrea Noseda, Kirill Petrenko, Yuri Temirkanov, Luc Bondy, Liliana Cavani, Robert Carsen, Peter Stein, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Henning Brockhaus, and Robert Sturua. His DVD/Blu-Ray recordings include Tosca from the Metropolitan Opera, Aida from La Scala, and Nabucco from the Arena of Verona.
