For the first time in Georgia, the world famous masterpiece Simon Boccanegra by celebrated Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi will be premiered at Tbilisi Opera Theater on June 10. After the main premier, the production of Genoa’s Carlo Felice Theater will be included in the permanent repertoire of Tbilisi Opera. Simon Boccanegra will be also premiered at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater on the following dates: June, 13, 16, 17.
Simon Boccanegra unveils the well-known story of a man whose fate is determined by love and politics. After being staged in many prestigious theaters around the globe, now the Georgian audience and opera enthusiasts will be able to enjoy the internationally acclaimed masterpiece on the Tbilisi Opera stage a as well.
The stage director of the play is Alfonso Signorini (Italy), the costume designer - Ester Martini (Spain), conductor Zaza Azmaiparashvili.
Alfonso Signorini - Director
Alfonso Signorini, among the most popular television personalities in Italian media, is a writer, editor and a famous TV host. In December 2017, he made his debut in opera as a director of Turandot at the Torre del Lago Puccini Festival. This opera was broadcast on Italian television Canale 5 and released as a DVD. The same production of Turandot was staged by Alfonso Signorini at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater and had great success.
Signorini’s version of Simon Boccanegra will be performed by Tbilisi Opera Theater soloists as well as invited Georgian and foreign artists and conductors.
On June 10, spectators will be fortunate enough to enjoy the famous production performed by the bright stars of Georgian opera: George Gagnidze, Tamar Iveri, Ramaz Chikviladze, Otar Jorjikia, Giorgi Mchedlishvili, Giorgi Chelidze, Philipe Gachava, and Manana Iordanishvili.
George Gagnidze - Baritone
“The Georgian baritone George Gagnidze was an exceptionally menacing Scarpia, singing with robust, earthy power and seductive lyricism when the villain turns on the charm”. With these words the New York Times hailed George Gagnidze in a 2008 performance of Tosca at Avery Fisher Hall at the New York Lincoln Center. One year later he made his sensational debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Rigoletto, and has since then ranked among the leading singers of his genre.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 important opera houses (Metropolitan Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Opéra National of Paris, Los Angeles Opera, Arena di Verona, Vienna State Opera, New National Theatre di Tokyo, The Greek National Opera of Athens, etc).
In the course of his brilliant career, George Gagnidze, who now masters 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.
Tamar Iveri – Soprano
Famous Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri first came to the public’s attention as Desdemona in May 1998. This same year she won second prize at the “Voce Verdiane” competition in Bussetto. In 1999, she won first prize at the Mozart Competition in Salzburg, where she met legendary soprano Ileana Cotrubas, who has been her mentor ever since. Engagements at the world’s most important opera houses followed quickly: Simon Boccanegra (Deutsche Oper Berlin), La Bohème and Eugene Onegin (Vienna Staatsoper), Simone Boccanegra and Don Giovanni (Covent Garden) and Otello (La Fenice), Don Giovanni (Metropoliten Opera), Faust (Houston Grand Opera), La Bohème (Arena di Verona), Don Carlo (Opera Bastille), etc.
Otar Jorjikia - Tenor
Georgian tenor OtarJorjikia is the owner of several prestigious prizes such as first prize at the 2016 Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Singer’s Competition. Since graduating from the Tbilisi State Conservatoire in 2013, Otar has made several house debuts at Opernhaus Zürich, the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres, Polish National Opera, Lithuanian National Opera and Opera Australia.Recent highlights include Otar’s debut at the Bolshoi Theatre (La traviata under Tugan Sokhiev), Simon Boccanegra at the Mariinsky Theatre with Placido Domingo by invitation of Valery Gergiev, Gustavo III in Un ballo in maschera at Opernhaus Zürich alongside Sondra Radvanovsky and George Paetan under Fabio Luisi.
Ramaz Chikviladze – Bass
Ramaz Chikviladze’s repertoire includes Capulet in Romeo et Juliette (Gounod), Fafner in Das Rheingold (Wagner), Leporello in Don Giovanni, Osmin in Die Entfhurungaus dem Serail (Mozart),Timur in Turandot (Puccini), Sarastro in Die Zauberflote (Mozart), Sparafucile in Rigoletto (Verdi), Dulcamara in L’elisir d'amore (Donizetti), Banco in Macbeth (Verdi), Gremin in Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky), Attila in Attila (Verdi), Mefistofele in Mefistofele (Boito) and others. He performs in the opera houses of Germany, Italy, Israel, Hungary, Romania, Korea, Georgia and Russia.
Lika Chigladze