Maria Katzarava

Maria Katzarava (born 1984)

Life

Born and raised in Mexico City, 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. At age eight she had her first concert as a violinist with the Orquestra Juvenil de la Escuela Nacional de Música.

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 currently lives in Barcelona.

Career Katzarava first major recognition of her talent was being named Revelación Juvenil at the Carlo Morelli National Singing Competition in 2002. 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 and Rolando Villazón.

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.

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.

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. 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. She also joined the Teatro alla Scala on their tour to Japan where she sang Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto.