Biography
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nino Surguladze studied at the Tbilisi Conservatory of Music and won prizes in a number of prestigious international voice competitions including the Concours International de Chant de la Ville de Toulouse, the Francisco Vinas Competition of Barcelona, and the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. Ms Surguladze finished her training at the Academy Studio of the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, making her debut as Cuniza in Verdi's Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio and joining Riccardo Muti for the opening of the 2003-04 season as Marie in a production of Rossini's Moise et Pharaon. Since then she has sung many roles at the theatre, including Meg Page Falstaff (cond. Muti), Olga Evgene Onegin (dir. Graham Vick), Idamante Idomeneo (cond. Harding), Fedor Boris Godunov (cond. Gergiev), Solokha in Tchaikovksy's Tcherevichki, Siebel Faust and Valencienne Die Lustige Witwe. Elsewhere in Italy, Nino has sung Niklausse Les Contes d'Hoffman in Torino, Marguerite La Damnation de Faust (cond. Plasson) at the Teatro Regio di Parma, and DorabellaCosi fan Tutte and Cuniza at the Teatro Carlo Fenice in Genoa, as well as Carmen in Bari, Macerata, Bologna and Naples and FenenaNabucco at the Arena di Verona and in Piacenza.
Ms. Surguladze made her debut at the Gran Theatre de Liceu in Barcelona at the age of 22 as Sonjetka Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Her other roles at the Liceu have included Federica Luisa Miller opposite Samuel Ramey and Maddalena Rigoletto, a role she has also sung at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and at the Teatro Real in Madrid (with Leo Nucci in the title role). Elsewhere in Spain, Nino had a particular success as Dorabella (opposite Barbara Frittoli) at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia. In the UK, Olga and Dorabella Cosi fan Tutte at Royal Opera House and Clara In Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery at the Glydnebourne Festival, for which she received wide critical acclaim. In Germany she has also sung Sesto La Clemenza di Tito, Niklausse, Carmen and Idamante in Hamburg and Polinesso and Ariodante in Ariodante in Frankfurt. Nino made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2009 as Sinaid in Moise et Pharaon (cond. Muti), a role she then sang in Rome.
In Tokyo, Ms. Surguladze has sung Suzuki Madama Butterfly, Dorabella and Carmen and, in the USA, Carmen in San Diego and Olga to great acclaim in Chicago.
Ms Surguladze is featured in several DVDs, including the film Opera with Placido Domingo singing the role of Maddalena. She is also an accomplished actress, having won a special prize at the Geneva Film Festival for her role in the Georgian film Walsi pechoraze.
Ms Surguladze's concert highlights have included her debut in Rome (Santa Cecilia) with Beethoven Symphony No. 9, and Dvorak's Requiem in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Nicola Luisotti, as well as gala concerts with Bryn Terfel, Jose Cura, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. Recently she was Carmen in Istanbul (a special concert performance dedicated to Leyla Gencer)
She stars as Olga in Evgenij Onegin at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Gianandrea Noseda conducting, Kasper Holten directing , as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette at the Arena in Verona and at least in Rigoletto at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Fabio Luisi conducting.
Among her future plans it is worth mentioning her debut as Amneris in Aida at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Carmen at the Sugi Opera Company in Seoul and Rigoletto at the Festival Internacional de Musica de Bogotà. Ms. Surguladze will be engaged in various concerts in Germany.
