Maria Katzarava
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Maria Katzarava (born 1984) is an opera singer from Mexico who achieved international fame by winning first place in the
Operalia Plácido Domingo's Operalia, The World Opera Competition is an annual international competition for opera singers. Founded in 1993 by Plácido Domingo, the competition's varied prizes have been given to known artists such as Joseph Calleja, Rola ...
competition in the opera and
zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of ...
categories. Prior to this, she came to the attention of notable Mexican tenor
Ramón Vargas Ramón Vargas (born 11 September 1960) is a Mexican operatic tenor. Since his debut in the early '90s, he has developed to become one of the most acclaimed tenors of the 21st century. Known for his most expressive and agile lyric tenor voice, he ...
, who helped her get a scholarship, and then won Mexico's Carlo Morelli national singing competition in 2005, which earned her a debut at the
Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...
. Since winning the Operalia competition, Katzarava has performed in Europe, where she currently lives, Asia and the Americas. She currently trains with soprano Mirella Freni.


Life

Born and raised in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, Katzarava's full name is María Alejandra Katzarava Hernández. She comes from a family of musicians and doctors, the granddaughter of a professional baritone and the daughter of professional violinists. Her father, Archil Katzarava, is from Georgia and her mother, Velia Hernández, Mexican. While pregnant with Maria, her mother attended all the concerts of Mexico's national orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, of which she was a violinist along with her husband. At age three, her father began to teach her to play the violin, and later she began to learn piano along with her older sister Lela. At age eight she had her first concert as a violinist with the Orquestra Juvenil de la Escuela Nacional de Música. Katzarava continued to study the violin for 20 years, but in 2013, gave up the instrument because of the demands of her singing career, as she played only for her own pleasure. She continues to play the piano as part of her singing practice. In her childhood and adolescence she did not have many friends, as her violin studies and her studies at the Liceo Franco Mexicano school took up all of her time. Katzarava states that this prepared her for later life on the road. She says that she has been very sure of herself since she was a child and never thinks about failure when she is on the stage. She learned to overcome stagefright with her first rehearsal thinking of a stage appearance as a party. Despite the time spent in her childhood in music, Katzarava wanted to be a doctor growing up and began to prepare herself for this career in high school, but that changed when she began to study singing. She had always liked to sing as a child and one of her idols was singer
Ana Torroja Ana Torroja Fungairiño (born 28 December 1959 in Madrid), 3rd marchioness of Torroja, is a Spanish singer. She was the lead singer of the pop trio Mecano, considered one of the most popular pop bands from Spain during the 1980s and 1990s. Mec ...
of the pop group
Mecano Mecano was a Spanish pop band formed in 1981 and active until 1992. Mecano became one of the most successful Spanish pop bands of all time. The band is still the best-selling Spanish band, with over 25 million records worldwide. They were consid ...
. Her interest in operatic singing was initially sparked by seeing her first opera, '' La bohème'', at age 12, after which she asked her mother for singing lessons. However, she had to wait three years for her voice to mature, and age at 15 began studying under Veracruz soprano Rosario Andrade. She maintained her interest during these three years because she felt she could not express herself sufficiently with the violin, she was intrigued by the development of her own voice and opera attracted her because of the acting component. When she sang her first aria, she fell in love with the “gymnastics” of it. At age 17, she began to study with Maritza Alemán at the Escuela Superior de Música and later with baritone Gabriel Mijares and American maestro James Demster. Her parents have been supportive of her career, which has taken her out of Mexico to live since 2008. She currently lives in Barcelona. Katzarava spends most of her time traveling, but she does not complain as her career allows her to visit many countries. In addition to Spanish, she speaks
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
, English, French, Italian and Russian. During the off-season she likes to travel, go to the theater, see her friends and family and likes just to spend time at home. She also likes to camp, mountain bike, swim and go to the gym. She originally performed under the name of María Alejandres but returned to her real last name in 2014.


Career

Katzarava first major recognition of her talent was being named Revelación Juvenil at the Carlo Morelli National Singing Competition in 2002. In 2004, she debuted with the opera La Serva Padrona with the Chihuahua Symphony Orchestra and with the Oaxaca Chamber Orchestra. That same year, she placed first at the Maritza Alemán Competition and was a finalist at the Francisco Viñas International Competition. Her first major break also came in 2004, when she was granted an audition organized by magazine Pro Ópera. There her voice sufficiently impressed tenor Ramón Vargas to not only offer a scholarship, but an offer to mentor her himself. In 2005 Katzarava returned to the Carlo Morelli competition, the most important singing competition in Mexico. This time, she placed first, which earned her the opportunity to have her debut at age 21 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, performing as Stephano in Romeo and Juliet with established artists
Anna Netrebko Anna Yuryevna Netrebko (russian: Анна Юрьевна Нетребко; born 18 September 1971) is an Austrian operatic soprano with an active international career and performed prominently at the Salzburg Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna ...
and
Rolando Villazón Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born 22 February 1972) is a Mexican operatic tenor, stage director, author, radio and television personality and artistic director. He now lives in France, and in 2007 became a French citizen. Villazón has published ...
. She later returned to Bellas Artes for its 80th anniversary celebration. Her first international break came in 2007, when
Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...
heard her at a gala in
Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...
and invited her to audition in Los Angeles. In 2008, she was accepted as a resident into the Domingo-Thorton Young Artist Program of the
Los Angeles Opera The Los Angeles Opera is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center. Leadersh ...
, to study and work with Gabriel Mijares and Luisa Besrokova. This was followed by her participation in the 2008 Operalia competition in Canada, where she won first place in the opera and operetta category, competing against 1,000 other participants from 200 countries. She became only the third Mexican to win this competition along with tenor Rolando Villazón and
Arturo Chacón Cruz Arturo Chacón Cruz (August 20, 1977) is a Mexican American operatic tenor. A winner of the Operalia competition in 2005, he went on to sing leading roles at many North American opera theatres, including Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Ope ...
, and it brought her international attention and standing. Other awards that Katzarava has earned include the Carlo Bergonzi Prize, the Francisco Viñas international competition, the Oscar Della Lirica at the Arena di Verona in 2012, and she was named best singer by the Miami Life Awards. Katzarava has performed in Europe, Asia and the Americas. In 2009, she debuted in Europe performing the role of Juliet in France. Since then she was performed in various Italian venues, such as the
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (Rome Opera House) is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat ''Costanzi Theatre'', it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements. The pre ...
, the Genoa Theater and is one of the few Mexican singers to have appeared at
La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
in Milan. She has performed at
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
in London, and in 2013, she made the Teatro Alla Scala Tournée in Verdi's '' Rigoletto''. She made her debut at Teatro Manzoni, Bologna under baton of Michele Mariotti singing " Vier letzte Lieder " which had a huge success. Katzarava frequently performs in her native Mexico, as she states that she needs to come home regularly. Here she has performed with Orquestra Sinfónica de Minería in Morelia, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the
National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
, the Festival Cultural de Zacatecas and has appeared at the Festival Internacional Cervantino on various occasions since 2007. Later on, Maria Katzarava sang the first Violetta of her career at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in 2013, for which she earned critical acclaim. In the spring of 2013 she returned to the Florida Grand Opera for their production of ''
La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...
''. During the 2012/13 season Katzarava also made her debut at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari as Isabella in Daniel Auber's rarely performed piece '' La muette de Portici''. In July 2013 she debuted at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari singing her first Suzel in Mascagni's ''
L'amico Fritz ''L'amico Fritz'' () is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 from a libretto by P. Suardon ( Nicola Daspuro) (with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti), based on the French novel ''L'ami Fritz'' by Émile Erckmann and ...
''. She also joined the Teatro alla Scala on their tour to Japan where she sang Gilda in Verdi's ''Rigoletto''. Engagements for the 2013/2014 season included debuts in roles like Nedda in Leoncavallo's ''
Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who m ...
'' at the Fondazione Sinfonica Petruzzelli in Bari; ''
Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was first ...
'' in Massenet's opera at Palacio de Bellas Artes; Liù in Puccini's '' Turandot'' at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and Mimì in Puccini's '' La bohème''.


Artistry

Katzarava has performed solo, accompanied by pianists, in operas and accompanied by symphony and chamber orchestras such as the Los Angeles Opera company, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Sinfónica del Teatro Petruzzelli and the Orquestra del Teatro de Bellas Artes among others. She has performed with other singers such as tenor Francisco Araiza. She currently performs with Ramón Vargas, Plácido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Rolando Villazón, Piotr Beczala, Leonardo Capalbo among others. She says her main model is soprano Mirella Freni. In her opinion, because opera must compete with more popular forms of entertainment, singers must break the stereotype of rotund performers and for this reason, she works to maintain her figure as a way to make her work as an artist more appealing. During the Operalia competition in Canada, Opera Canada had this to say about her performance:


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katzarava, Maria 1984 births Living people Mexican people of Georgian descent Mexican operatic sopranos Singers from Mexico City 21st-century Mexican women opera singers