Coming Soon,
Fascinating Aida
Decca Classics yesterday announced an exciting new signing - glamorous Tatar soprano Aida Garifullina, who scooped the first prize in Placido Domingo's Operalia in 2013 and is all set to perform at balls in Vienna and Dresden early next month.
Born in Kazan in 1987, Ms Garifullina received her musical education in Nuremberg (under the tutelage of the great dramatic tenor Siegfried Jerusalem) and Vienna. Like her compatriot Anna Netrebko, she initially made her name singing light lyric roles at the Mariinsky Theatre under Valery Gergiev, including Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Gilda in Rigoletto and Adina in L'elisir d'amore as well as roles in Prokofiev's War and Peace and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel, and has also had considerable success in the crossover sphere, collaborating with Michael Bolton among others.
She came to wider prominence after her Operalia victory in 2013, where a programme of arias from Falstaff, I Capuleti, Le nozze di Figaro and The Snow Maiden netted her first prize, and subsequently made quite an impact with her UK recital-debut (which prompted Bachtrack to dub her 'Celeste Aida') at the Wigmore Hall in December. It will be with some of the repertoire performed in this concert - Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as folk-songs from her homeland - that she will make her Decca debut, due for release in the autumn.
Ms Garifullina said yesterday that "It is a huge honour for me to join this incredible family of great artists and to share with you the truly beautiful music of my home."
You can see Aida in action as Musetta at the Vienna Staatsoper (where she will return to sing Zerlina Don Giovanni in June) here.
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
