Zurab sotkilava: "I want to sing. otherwise it's not life"

Awarded the main prize of the festival "Golden Orpheus" (Bulgaria, 1968)
Awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor (1971)
Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1976)
Honorary member of the Bologna Academy of Music (Italy), elected "for a brilliant interpretation of Verdi's works"
Awarded with the Order of Honor of the Republic of Georgia (1997)
Awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2001)

Born in Sukhumi (Abkhazia, Georgia). In 1960 he graduated from the Tbilisi Polytechnic Institute, in 1965 - the Tbilisi Conservatory (class of D. Ya. Andguladze), in 1972 - postgraduate studies at the Tbilisi Conservatory. . Piazza, 1966-1968), where he prepared the parts of the Duke in the opera "Rigoletto" by G. Verdi, Jose in the opera "Carmen" by G. Bizet, Turrida in the opera "Rural Honor" by P. Mascagni. After that, in Italy they began to call him one of the best interpreters of Italian opera classics.

In 1970, E. Obraztsova and Z. Sotkilava became the first Soviet singers to perform at the very difficult International Vocal Competition. F. Viñas in Barcelona. They received gold medals and an invitation to stay in Spain. Critics noted that Z. Sotkilava is one of the best opera singers “with a voice brilliant in timbre, excellent technique, great musicality and expression”, that his voice and singing can be compared with the voice of Mario del Monaco or di Stefano in their best years. For a brilliant interpretation of Verdi's works, the Bologna Academy of Music elected Z. Sotkilava its honorary member.

Pedagogical activity:

In 1976-1988. taught at the Moscow Conservatory, since 1987 - Professor of the Department of Solo Singing. In 2002, he resumed teaching at the Moscow Conservatory. Among the students are V. Bogachev, V. Redkin, A. Fedin and others.

Singer (lyric-dramatic tenor)
Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR (Georgia) (1970)
People's Artist of the Georgian SSR (1973)
People's Artist of the USSR (1979)

Laureate of the International Vocal Competition at the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sofia (I prize, 1968)
Laureate of the IV International Competition. P. I. Tchaikovsky (1970, II prize)
Laureate of the International Vocal Competition. F. Viñas in Barcelona (1970, 1st prize and Grand Prix)
Laureate of the State Prize of the Georgian SSR. Z. Paliashvili (1983)
Laureate of the Shota Rustaveli State Prize of the Republic of Georgia (1998)

Participation in the jury of competitions:

Chairman of the jury in the nomination "vocal art" of the International Competition. P. I. Tchaikovsky (1994). Chairman of the jury of the film festival of the CIS and Baltic countries "Kinoshock" (Anapa, 2000).

concert activity. Main repertoire:

In 1965-1974 Z. Sotkilava - soloist of the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theater. Z. Paliashvili. In 1973 he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow as Jose (Carmen by G. Bizet), since 1974 he was invited to the opera company. At the Bolshoi Theater he performed the following parts: Vaudemont (Iolanthe by P. I. Tchaikovsky); Abesalom ("Abesalom and Eteri" by Z. Paliashvili); Cavaradossi (Tosca by G. Puccini); Manrico ("Troubadour" by G. Verdi); Radamès (Aida by G. Verdi); Otello (Otello by G. Verdi); Richard (Masquerade Ball by G. Verdi); José (Carmen by J. Bizet); Arzakan (The Abduction of the Moon by O. Taktakishvili).

In 1995, he took part in the premiere of the first production of the opera Khovanshchina in the history of the Bolshoi Theater in the version by D. Shostakovich (stage conductor M. Rostropovich, stage director B. Pokrovsky), performing the part of Golitsyn. He also performed this role in the last production of Khovanshchina at the Bolshoi Theater in 2002 (stage conductor A. Vedernikov, stage director Yu. Alexandrov).

On the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, the singer performed with V. Atlantov, E. Nesterenko, T. Milashkina, I. Arkhipova, M. Kasrashvili, E. Obraztsova and other outstanding artists. Tours a lot abroad. He performed especially often in Italy. Repertoire (at the Bolshoi Theatre):

• Manrico ("Troubadour" by G. Verdi)
• Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca by G. Puccini)
• Vaudemont (Iolanthe by P. Tchaikovsky)
• Radamès (Aida by G. Verdi)
• Indian guest (Sadko by N. Rimsky-Korsakov)
• Arzakan (The Abduction of the Moon by O. Taktakishvili) — first performer
• Otello (Otello by G. Verdi)
• Richard (Un ballo in masquerade by G. Verdi)
• Turiddu (Country Honor by P. Mascagni)
• Baron Calloandro (The Beautiful Miller's Woman by G. Paisiello) — first performer at the Bolshoi Theater
• Pretender (Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky)
• Golitsyn ("Khovanshchina" by M. Mussorgsky)
• Ishmael (Nabucco by G. Verdi)

Discography

The company "Sony" released discs: "Italian classical music" and "Russian classical music".

When you hear the deep, powerful voice of Zurab Sotkilava that fills any hall, you can’t believe that the famous tenor, winner of many awards, once dreamed of becoming a star ... of football, and only due to a combination of circumstances the world received a great singer instead of a great football player. How could this happen? To answer this question, one must probably remember the whole life of Zurab Lavrentievich, starting from that March day in 1937, when the director of the school, Lavrenty Sotkilava, became the happiest person on Earth: of course, because he had a son.

Childhood in the shadow of war

Zurab Lavrentievich Sotkilava was born on March 12, 1937 in Sukhumi. Ksenia Vissarionovna - Zurab's mother - loved to sing and play the guitar. Melodic Georgian songs - the first musical impression of early childhood - Zurab learned from his mother (not a singer, but a radiologist by profession) and grandmother. According to the singer, at that time, as a child, it never occurred to him that someday he himself would begin to sing.

And then there was the Great Patriotic War. Like the whole generation, she divided the childhood of little Zurab into "before" and "after". But the songs have not disappeared. Now they were sung by the mothers and wives of those who fought thousands of miles from their home; they sang under a large plane tree in the yard. These songs sounded not only longing and anxiety, but also faith in victory. Was it not then that Zurab first felt the tremendous power of music that heals souls and gives strength to hearts?

Football? Football. Football!

After the Victory and the return of his father, anxieties were replaced by the usual boyish joys, the main among which was football. For days on end, Zurab drove a homemade ball made from grass roots across a huge clearing. At the age of 12, the coaches noticed the young player - and his sports career was rapidly going uphill: at the age of 16 he was already the extreme defender of the Sukhumi Dynamo, and in 1958 he was enrolled in the main team of the Tbilisi Dynamo. At the same time, Zurab is studying at the Polytechnic, but no one, and above all himself, doubts that his future is sport.

And then there was a fatal match in Yugoslavia and the fracture received on it. Then Zurab was able to overcome the consequences of the injury and return to the team. But a new injury - this time at competitions in Czechoslovakia - leaves no chance. I had to leave football. And it was necessary to look for a new vocation, a new goal.

In a sense, a new vocation found Zurab itself, when he was still playing at Dynamo. The pianist Razumovskaya, a friend of the Sotkilava family, admired his voice and advised him to audition with a friend of a professor at the Tbilisi Conservatory.

It is curious that the professor first became interested in football, and not in Zurab's vocal abilities. Sotkilava got him tickets to the stadium, and the professor gave him lessons out of gratitude - until it became clear: the young athlete has a huge singing potential. True, Zurab himself met this news with laughter: then only football existed for him. And only when the sport had to be abandoned, Sotkilava seriously took up the preparation for the conservatory.

On July 10, 1960, he defended his diploma at the Polytechnic Institute, and on the 12th he went to the entrance exam to the conservatory.

In the crowded corridors of the conservatory, the entrant Sotkilava suddenly saw a beautiful girl in a brick-colored suit - and fell in love. According to the singer, he immediately realized that this girl - her name was Eliso Turmanidze - would be his wife. But he did not dare to approach the future pianist, who studied a year older, for two whole years.

... They have been together for half a century - Zurab and Eliso. A wife is not only a friend and helper, but also a reliable rear, so necessary in the difficult life of an artist. In each interview, Zurab Lavrentievich says words of gratitude to his wife, who always supported him in everything. And also - who gave two daughters: Tea and Ketino. The daughters didn't follow in their father's footsteps, choosing the humanities over music, but that doesn't stop their father - and now grandfather - from adoring them and pampering their grandchildren. By the way, the husband of the youngest daughter, Keti, is a famous Georgian opera singer, so there is hope that the youngest grandson, Levan, will someday also take the stage.

Zurab indulged in his studies at the Tbilisi Conservatory with the same passion with which he had previously played football. And his efforts were rewarded: after finishing it with the part of Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca, his first glory comes to him. Soon people began to go to the Georgian State Opera and Ballet Theater “to Sotkilava”. In 1966 - a new success: a promising young man was sent to Italy, to the dream of all opera singers in the world - to La Scala. A two-year internship with the best stage masters, who remembered such stage stars as Caruso and Gigli, gave Zurab a lot. In 1968 he had his first international success: a victory at the Bulgarian festival "Golden Orpheus".

From now on, victory follows victory: International Competition named after P.I. Tchaikovsky - second prize; International Competition for Vocalists. F. Vinyasa - first prize and "Grand Prix"! And what roles: in 1973, Zurab made his debut at the Bolshoi Theater as Jose (a year later he would move to this theater from the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theatre); then there were Vaudemont from Iolanta by Tchaikovsky, the Pretender from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Turiddu from Mascagni's Rural Honor. But the separate passion of the tenor is Verdi. It was in his operas "Il trovatore", "Aida", "Un ballo in maschera", "Othello" that Sotkilava's genius was revealed with full force, revealing to the world the highest level of performance, inimitable emotionality and lyricism.

From the outside, it might seem that Zurab Sotkilava is a favorite of fate, for whom everything was easy: endless tours around the world since the 1970s; brilliant parts on the best opera stages, state awards, millions of fans...

But only the singer himself can say what a titanic work is behind the seeming ease of performance, what a long preparation precedes each premiere. And no one knows what scars on the soul left the early death of parents, and in the early 1990s - the war that came to his native Abkhazia.

Is it not they, these stresses hidden from prying eyes, that provoked the development of a terrible disease? This summer, newspapers were full of alarming reports: the famous singer was diagnosed with a pancreatic tumor. But Sotkilava was not going to give up. After a successful treatment, Zurab Lavrentievich returned to the stage, and we can only wish him a long life.

In July 2015, Zurab Sotkilava announced that he was seriously ill with cancer. The doctors diagnosed him with a malignant tumor of the pancreas. After an operation in Germany and a course of treatment in Russia, the singer returned to creative activity, his first concert after recovery took place on October 25, 2015 in Sergiev Posad.

Opera singer Zurab Sotkilava died on September 18, 2017 in Moscow from pancreatic cancer.

Zurab Sotkilava is a great opera singer who has become popular far beyond the borders of his homeland. Therefore, the biography of the tenor, as well as facts about his family, are of interest to many. Further in the article, we will just tell you about how he grew up, what he was fond of and where this talented person worked.

In 1937, on March 12, Zurab Sotkilava was born in the city of Sukhumi. Love for music was instilled in the boy from an early age by his mother, who, together with her grandmother, sang national songs to him.

But despite such an upbringing, in his youth Sotkilava raved exclusively about sports, or rather football. And instead of studying music, he devoted all his free time to training, chasing the ball with friends around the field. And already at the age of 16, Zurab got into the local Dynamo club.

He was a versatile player as he could easily switch from defender to attacking striker. For this, at the age of 19 he was appointed team captain. In 1958, Sotkilava was already in the main team of Dynamo, which you can also see by looking at the archive photos presented in our selection.

And everything would be fine if Zurab had not received a serious leg injury at one of the matches in the same 1958. After rehabilitation, he returns to big football, but not for long, as he again injures his leg and leaves the team forever.

Sotkilava returns to his homeland, where he lived with his parents, whom Valeria Razumovskaya often visited at that time. The pianist, accidentally hearing the voice of Zurab, suggested that he try his hand at singing and come to an audition with a professor who worked at the conservatory.

Interesting! Sotkilava literally bribed the professor, because he was fond of football and Zurab, for the sake of an invitation to audition, through his old connections, easily got him tickets for the desired match.

At the very first rehearsals, the professor saw what kind of nugget fell into his hands, since the young man's voice was unusually beautiful. He insisted that Sotkilava develop his true talent and enter the conservatory, which Zurab did.

Career

After graduating from the conservatory, Zurab was admitted to the Tbilisi Opera House, where he made his debut. Sotkilava's career grew rapidly and soon the young singer was entrusted with the performance of the leading roles.

In addition to singing in the theater, Zurab often performed at various festivals and competitions, where he won mainly prizes.

In 1970, Sotkilava went on his first tour, which literally made him a world-class star. For such achievements in his homeland, he received the title of People's Artist.

In 1976, Sotkilava was offered a teaching position at the conservatory, and in 1987 he already became the head of the department. At the same time, Zurab did not give up his main vocation - opera singing and skillfully combined it with teaching at a university.

Personal life

Zurab Sotkilava had only one lover - Eliso, whom he met while studying at the conservatory. The girl instantly won the heart of the tenor. Zurab, like a true lover, told everyone about the feeling that befell him, but he was afraid to confess to his chosen one.

Eliso herself had repeatedly heard about a novice tenor with a beautiful voice. She attended one of Zurab's rehearsals, and then approached him to express her admiration. This case became fateful, since Zurab officially met his beloved. Their romance developed so rapidly that the couple soon legalized their relationship.

Sotkilava began performing with his wife: he sang, and she played the piano. The couple toured until they had a new addition to the family. Eliso gave her husband two daughters: Thea and Kathy. Zurab literally doted on his children.

Over time, the tenor had grandchildren who became his dearest critics.

Despite the fact that Zurab Sotkilava did not give interviews very often, we still managed to find some interesting facts about this opera singer.

• For 9 years he was the leading soloist of the Georgian theater.
• For 2 years he was on an internship in Milan at the world-famous La Scala theater.
• Immensely loved his family and tried to spend all his free time with loved ones.

• He was a favorite professor among students, and especially among girls, as he aroused their admiration for his charm and gentlemanly habits.
• He sang not only in his native Georgia and Russia, but also in the USA, Italy and France.
• Sotkilava, while studying in Italy, regularly played football with his patrons. Thanks to this hobby, the singer was able to master the Italian language perfectly.

• For two long years, Zurab literally pursued his future wife and drove away possible competitors.
• At first, the teachers of the conservatory at Sotkilava identified the baritone, but after a few more auditions, they came to the conclusion that the young man had a tenor voice.
• On the day of the official acquaintance, Eliso, for a good performance, gave Sotkilava a candy.
• Zurab, unlike other opera singers, repeatedly soloed in the opera Othello.

Death

The last item in the biography of Zurab Sotkilava, unfortunately, was information about the death of the artist due to a serious illness.

The fact that the tenor was ill became known in 2015. The singer himself admitted that he had a tumor of the pancreas.

Such a difficult diagnosis did not break Sotkilava, and after undergoing several courses of chemotherapy, he again returned to his favorite pastime - singing. The disease did not go away and soon it clearly began to make itself felt. Zurab, overcoming the pain, continued to work. He even dreamed of giving a concert in honor of his 80th birthday. But he never managed to do this. On September 18, 2017, the great tenor passed away. He was buried in Tbilisi, after the farewell, which took place in the building of the Bolshoi Theater.

Details of the biography, including personal life, of Zurab Sotkilava will be of interest to the public for more than one year. After all, his merits in art have become an invaluable contribution to the development of the younger generation.

The name of the lyric-dramatic tenor Zurab Sotkilava is known far beyond the borders of the country in which he was born. The singer's creative biography began in sunny Sukhumi, continued in Milan and further developed in Moscow, where the tenor became the soloist of the Bolshoi Theater and his pride.

Sotkilava's concerts were accompanied by invariable full houses. The emotional dedication of the artist, the strength and beauty of his voice, the noble manner of performance made Zurab Lavrentievich's fans millions of opera lovers. A teacher and professor at the Moscow Conservatory, he trained and released hundreds of talented young singers.

Childhood and youth

The future People's Artist of the USSR was born in the spring of 1937 in the largest city of Abkhazia - Sukhumi. In the Sotkilava family, the mother and grandmother of the future star sang and played the guitar. In early childhood, Zurab sat next to them on a bench near the house and sang along with women who gave "concerts" to neighbors and passers-by. The repertoire included ancient Georgian songs, melodious and lingering. Zurab Sotkilava did not dream of a career as a singer - all thoughts and plans in childhood and adolescence were connected with football.

At primary school age, Zurab Sotkilava was chasing the ball in the school team. At the insistence of his mother (a doctor by profession), who had absolute pitch, the son attended a music school, where he learned to play the violin and piano. At the age of 16, the promising Georgian footballer joined the youth team, becoming its captain. In the mid-1950s, the team won all-Union competitions, the captain was taken to the main team of Dynamo Tbilisi.

The rising football star was an extreme defender, attacked rapidly (overcame a hundred meters in 11.1 seconds) and made a sports career. Later, having become an opera celebrity, Zurab Sotkilava shared his memories of the most memorable game - with Dynamo Moscow. As part of the Georgian team, Sotkilava fought with himself, the legendary goalkeeper. The Georgians lost the match with a score of 1:3, but acquaintance with Yashin continued when Sotkilava became a singer.

Zurab Sotkilava had to say goodbye to sports everyday life after the game in Czechoslovakia: a serious injury put an end to his career. Prior to that, the football player received a fracture in Yugoslavia. The young athlete tried his hand at vocals by accident: the pianist Valeria Razumovskaya, who heard Zurab singing together with her mother and grandmother, came into the house. She was the first to recognize Sotkilava as a singer. The woman took the 21-year-old guy to a familiar professor of the conservatory, he listened to the "Sukhumi nightingale" skeptically.

But the meetings with the professor continued: in gratitude for the fact that Zurab Sotkilava got him scarce tickets for the games of Dynamo Tbilisi, the teacher studied vocals with the football player. Soon the vocal exercises were crowned with success: the professor announced to Zurab that he had a brilliant operatic future. But then the prospect of becoming an operatic tenor caused the footballer to laugh. The words of the teacher of the conservatory Zurab Sotkilava had to be remembered after being expelled from the team in 1959.

In the summer of 1960, Sotkilava defended his diploma from the Polytechnic Institute in Tbilisi, where he studied at the mining faculty, playing in the national team. In the same year he entered the local conservatory. The father, who had no musical abilities, supported his son, but his mother turned out to be a categorical opponent of Zurab's vocal career. At first, the voice of the novice vocalist was defined as a baritone, but in the 3rd year, Sotkilava discovered a lyric-dramatic tenor. In 1965, the future opera star graduated from the Tbilisi Conservatory, and 7 years later - postgraduate studies.

Music

The young singer was accepted into the troupe of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, where Zurab Sotkilava made a successful debut. Soon he was entrusted with leading roles in the operas Tosca and La bohème by Giacomo Puccini. Then Sotkilava soloed in "Rigoletto", sang in the national operas "Abesalom and Eteri", "Mindiya".

The tenor performed on the stage of the Georgian State Opera and Ballet Theater for 9 years, since 1965. In 1966, Zurab Sotkilava was sent to train at Milan's La Scala, where he was taught by bel canto teachers. Maestro and vocal teacher Genarro Barra admired the Georgian singer, whose voice reminded him of the old tenors Enrico Caruso and Beniamino Gigli.

Two years after the start of classes with Milanese teachers, Zurab Sotkilava participated in the festival of young vocalists "Golden Orpheus" in Bulgaria. The performance of the Georgian singer was triumphant: Sotkilava was awarded the main prize. In 1970, Zurab Sotkilava took second place in Moscow at the International Competition named after. In the same year, the tenor won the first prize in Barcelona, ​​where an international vocal competition was held.

At the end of 1973, Zurab Sotkilava made his debut on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, performing the part of Jose. He was invited to the BT troupe. Soon the vocalist was entrusted with the role of Otello in the opera by Giuseppe Verdi. So connoisseurs of opera discovered a new star for themselves - Sotkilava's vocal tenor turned out to be a revelation. Spectators and listeners noted the work of the singer: Zurab gave all the best on the stage in full force. Later, he admitted that the part of Othello became the pinnacle, after which he did not lower the bar of performance, working for wear and tear.

Another achievement of the artist is the role of Turiddu in the opera Rural Honor by the Italian composer Pietro Mascagni. The expressiveness, the intensity of passions conveyed by the vocalist, the technical virtuosity of Sotkilava were noticed by fans, whose army has grown significantly.

In the Parisian Theater of the Champs Elysees, Zurab Sotkilava's voice was called sparklingly beautiful: the tenor's triumphal tour began in Paris. Soon, opera lovers in America, Italy and Japan discovered the Soviet star, noting that his voice is beautiful in all registers, and the artistry of the singer "comes directly from the heart."

The tour of the late 1970s turned Zurab Sotkilava into a world-class star, bringing him the title of People's Artist of the USSR. The last bastion taken by the opera star was the part of the Pretender in Modest Mussorgsky's opera "". Less often, Zurab Sotkilava performed on the stage, where his repertoire consisted of romances, Russian and Italian music. Since 1976, Zurab Sotkilava taught at the Moscow Conservatory, where he led a class of solo singing. In 1987 he became a professor and headed the department.

In 1995, opera fans heard Sotkilav on the BT stage: he performed the part of Golitsyn in the production of Khovanshchina. He returned to the party in 2002 on the same stage. Music lovers of the London Royal Opera enjoyed the voice of Zurab Sotkilava. German fans of opera saw the singer on the stage of the Bavarian State Opera.

We heard the Russian tenor at the Dresden Opera, at the Communale Theater in Bologna, the Liceo Theater in Barcelona and La Fenice in Venice. In the last decade, Zurab Lavrentievich has performed in concert halls in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and visited neighboring countries. His repertoire included opera arias, romances by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Georgian and Russian folk songs.

Personal life

Zurab Sotkilava was proud of his friendly and strong family. He married once and for all. The half and right hand of the artist until the last days was the wife of Eliso Turmanidze, who gave birth to her husband's two daughters - Teya and Keti.

The couple lived together for half a century. Zurab Lavrentievich waited for two beloved grandchildren - Keti and Levan, in whom he doted.

Death

In the summer of 2015, the artist admitted that he was seriously ill. Doctors diagnosed him with pancreatic cancer. In the same year, Sotkilava underwent an operation in Germany, and a course of treatment and chemotherapy was carried out in Russia. The singer took to the stage in October 2015. The concert in Sergiev Posad near Moscow was sold out, it seemed that the disease had receded.

Zurab Sotkilava decided to talk about cancer, having learned about the same diagnosis of colleagues and friends and. For the last two years, Zurab Sotkilava taught at the conservatory and, overcoming illness, went on stage. In 2017, he planned to give an anniversary concert - the opera star turned 80 years old. But oncological disease made adjustments to the plans - the vocalist died on September 17th.

Discography

• Richard (Un ballo in masquerade, Giuseppe Verdi)
• Manrico (Il Trovatore, G. Verdi)
• Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca, G. Puccini)
• Vaudemont (Iolanthe, P. Tchaikovsky)
• Radamès (Aida, G. Verdi)
• Indian guest (Sadko, N. Rimsky-Korsakov)
• Arzakan (The Abduction of the Moon, O. Taktakishvili)
• Otello (Otello, G. Verdi)
• Richard (Un ballo in masquerade, G. Verdi)
• Turiddu (Country Honor, P. Mascagni)
• Baron Calloandro (The Beautiful Miller's Woman, G. Paisiello)
• The Pretender (Boris Godunov, M. Mussorgsky)
• Golitsyn (Khovanshchina, M. Mussorgsky)
• Ishmael (Nabucco, G. Verdi)

Zurab Lavrentievich Sotkilava was born on March 12, 1937 in Sukhumi. “First, I should probably say about genes: my grandmother and mother played the guitar and sang great,” says Sotkilava. - I remember they sat on the street near the house, performed old Georgian songs, and I sang along with them. I did not think about any singing career either then or later. Interestingly, many years later, my father, who has no hearing at all, supported my operatic endeavors, and my mother, who has absolute pitch, was categorically against it.

And yet, in childhood, Zurab's main love was not singing, but football. Over time, he showed good abilities. He got into the Sukhumi Dynamo, where at the age of 16 he was considered a rising star. Sotkilava played in the place of the wingback, he joined the attacks a lot and successfully, running a hundred meters in 11.1 seconds!

In 1956, Zurab became the captain of the Georgian national team at the age of 20. Two years later, he got into the main team of Dynamo Tbilisi. The most memorable for Sotkilava was the game with Dynamo Moscow.

“I am proud that I took the field against Lev Yashin himself,” recalls Sotkilava. - We got to know Lev Ivanovich better, already when I was a singer and was friends with Nikolai Nikolaevich Ozerov. Together we went to Yashin to the hospital after the operation ... On the example of the great goalkeeper, I was once again convinced that the more a person has achieved in life, the more modest he is. And we lost that match with a score of 1:3.

By the way, this was my last game for Dynamo. In one of the interviews, I said that Urin, the forward of Muscovites, made me a singer, and many people thought that he had crippled me. In no case! He just outright outplayed me. But it was half the trouble. Soon we flew to Yugoslavia, where I got a fracture and left the squad. In 1959 he tried to return. But the trip to Czechoslovakia finally put an end to my football career. There I received another serious injury, and after some time I was expelled ...

At 1958, when I was playing in Dynamo Tbilisi, I came home to Sukhumi for a week. Once, the pianist Valeria Razumovskaya, who always admired my voice and said who I would eventually become, dropped in on my parents. I did not attach any importance to her words then, but nevertheless agreed to come to some visiting professor of the conservatory from Tbilisi for an audition. My voice didn't make much of an impression on him. And here, imagine, football again played a decisive role! At that time, Meskhi, Metreveli, Barkaya were already shining at Dynamo, and it was impossible to get a ticket to the stadium. So, at first, I became a supplier of tickets for the professor: he came to pick them up at the Dynamo base in Digomi. In gratitude, the professor invited me to his home, we began to study. And suddenly he tells me that in just a few lessons I have made great progress and I have an operatic future!

But even then, the prospect made me laugh. I seriously thought about singing only after I was expelled from Dynamo. The professor listened to me and said: "Well, stop getting dirty in the mud, let's do a clean job." And a year later, in July 1960, I first defended my diploma at the mining department of the Tbilisi Polytechnic Institute, and a day later I was already taking exams at the conservatory. And was accepted. By the way, we studied at the same time as Nadar Akhalkatsi, who preferred the Institute of Railway Transport. We had such battles in inter-institutional football tournaments that the stadium for 25 thousand spectators was packed!”

Sotkilava came to the Tbilisi Conservatory as a baritone, but soon Professor D.Ya. Andguladze corrected the mistake: of course, the new student has a magnificent lyric-dramatic tenor. In 1965, the young singer made his debut on the Tbilisi stage as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca. The success exceeded all expectations. Zurab performed at the Georgian State Opera and Ballet Theater from 1965 to 1974. The talent of a promising singer at home was sought to be supported and developed, and in 1966 Sotkilava was sent for an internship at the famous Milan theater La Scala.

Best of the day

There he trained with the best bel canto specialists. He worked tirelessly, and after all, his head could have been spinning after the words of maestro Genarro Barra, who wrote then: “Zurab’s young voice reminded me of the tenors of bygone times.” It was about the times of E. Caruso, B. Gigli and other sorcerers of the Italian scene.

In Italy, the singer improved for two years, after which he took part in the festival of young vocalists "Golden Orpheus". His performance was triumphant: Sotkilava won the main prize of the Bulgarian festival. Two years later - a new success, this time at one of the most important International competitions - named after P.I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow: Sotkilava was awarded the second prize.

After a new triumph, in 1970, - the First Prize and the "Grand Prix" at the F. Viñas International Vocal Competition in Barcelona - David Andguladze said: "Zurab Sotkilava is a gifted singer, very musical, his voice, of an unusually beautiful timbre, does not leaves the listener indifferent. The vocalist emotionally and vividly conveys the nature of the performed works, fully reveals the composer's intention. And the most remarkable feature of his character is diligence, the desire to comprehend all the secrets of art. He studies every day, we have almost the same "schedule of lessons" as in his student years.

“At first glance,” he recalls, “it might seem that I quickly got used to Moscow and easily entered the Bolshoi Opera team. But it is not. At first it was difficult for me, and many thanks to the people who were next to me at that time. And Sotkilava names the director G. Pankov, the concertmaster L. Mogilevskaya and, of course, his partners in performances.

The premiere of Verdi's Otello at the Bolshoi Theater was a notable event, and Sotkilava's Otello was a revelation.

“Working on the part of Othello,” Sotkilava said, “opened up new horizons for me, forced me to reconsider much of what had been done, gave birth to other creative criteria. The role of Othello is that peak from which it is clearly visible, although it is difficult to reach it. Now, when there is no human depth, psychological complexity in this or that image offered by the score, it is not so interesting to me. What is the happiness of an artist? Waste yourself, your nerves, spend on wear and tear, not thinking about the next performance. But work should make you want to waste yourself like that, for this you need big tasks that are interesting to solve ... "

Another outstanding achievement of the artist was the role of Turiddu in Mascagni's Rural Honor. First on the concert stage, then at the Bolshoi Theater, Sotkilava achieved tremendous power of figurative expressiveness. Commenting on this work of his, the singer emphasizes: “Country Honor” is a verist opera, an opera of high intensity of passions. It is possible to convey this in a concert performance, which, of course, should not be reduced to abstract music-making from a book with musical text. The main thing is to take care of gaining inner freedom, which is so necessary for the artist both on the opera stage and on the concert stage. In the music of Mascagni, in his opera ensembles, there are multiple repetitions of the same intonations. And here it is very important for the performer to remember the danger of monotony. Repeating, for example, one and the same word, you need to find the undercurrent of musical thought, coloring, shading the various semantic meanings of this word. There is no need to artificially inflate yourself and it is not known what to play. The pathetic intensity of passion in Rural Honor must be pure and sincere.”

The strength of Zurab Sotkilava's art is that it always brings people sincere purity of feeling. This is the secret of his continued success. The singer's foreign tours were no exception.

"One of the most brilliantly beautiful voices that exists anywhere today." This is how the reviewer responded to the performance of Zurab Sotkilava at the Champs-Elysées Theater in Paris. This was the beginning of the foreign tour of the wonderful Soviet singer. Following the “shock of discovery”, new triumphs followed - a brilliant success in the USA and then in Italy, in Milan. The ratings of the American press were also enthusiastic: “A large voice of excellent evenness and beauty in all registers. The artistry of Sotkilava comes directly from the heart.”

Tours in 1978 made the singer a world-famous celebrity - numerous invitations to participate in performances, concerts, recordings followed ...

In 1979, his artistic merits were awarded the highest award - the title of People's Artist of the USSR.

“Zurab Sotkilava is the owner of a tenor of rare beauty, bright, sonorous, with brilliant upper notes and a strong middle register,” writes S. Savanko. - Voices of this magnitude are rare. Excellent natural data were developed and strengthened by the professional school, which the singer passed in his homeland and in Milan. Sotkilava's performing style is dominated by signs of classical Italian bel canto, which is especially felt in the singer's opera activity. The core of his stage repertoire consists of lyrical and dramatic roles: Othello, Radamès (Aida), Manrico (Il Trovatore), Richard (Un ballo in maschera), José (Carmen), Cavaradossi (Tosca). He also sings Vaudemont in Tchaikovsky's Iolanthe, as well as in Georgian operas - Abesalom in the Tbilisi Opera House's performance Abesalom and Eteri by Z. Paliashvili and Arzakan in O. Taktakishvili's Abduction of the Moon. Sotkilava subtly feels the specifics of each part, it is no coincidence that the breadth of the stylistic range inherent in the art of the singer was noted in critical responses.

“Sotkilava is a classic hero-lover of the Italian opera,” says E. Dorozhkin. - All "J." - obviously him: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini. However, there is one significant "but". Of the entire set necessary for the image of a womanizer, Sotkilava fully possesses, as the enthusiastic Russian president rightly noted in his message to the hero of the day, only "an amazingly beautiful voice" and "natural artistry." In order to enjoy the same love of the public as Georgesand's Andzoletto (namely, this kind of love surrounds the singer now), these qualities are not enough. Wise Sotkilava, however, did not seek to acquire others. He took not by number, but by skill. Completely ignoring the light disapproving whisper of the hall, he sang Manrico, the Duke and Radamès. This, perhaps, is the only thing in which he was and remains a Georgian - to do his job, no matter what, not for a second doubting his own merits.

The last stage bastion that Sotkilava took was Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. The impostor - the most Russian of all the Russian characters in Russian opera - Sotkilava sang in such a way that the blue-eyed blond singers, who fiercely followed what was happening from the dusty wings, never dreamed of singing. The absolute Timoshka came out - and in fact, Grishka Otrepyev was Timoshka.

Sotkilava is a secular person. And secular in the best sense of the word. Unlike many of his colleagues in the artistic workshop, the singer honors with his presence not only those events that are inevitably followed by a plentiful buffet table, but also those that are intended for true connoisseurs of beauty. Sotkilava earns money on a jar of olives with anchovies himself. And the singer's wife also cooks wonderfully.

Sotkilava performs, although not often, on the concert stage. Here his repertoire consists mainly of Russian and Italian music. At the same time, the singer tends to focus specifically on the chamber repertoire, on romance lyrics, relatively rarely turning to concert performances of opera excerpts, which is quite common in vocal programs. Plastic relief, bulge of dramatic solutions are combined in Sotkilava's interpretation with special intimacy, lyrical warmth and softness, which are rare in a singer with such a large-scale voice.

Since 1987, Sotkilava has been teaching solo singing at the Moscow State P.I. Tchaikovsky. But, undoubtedly, the singer himself will also give the listeners many pleasant minutes.

Shame on you, Mr. Sotkilava!
Anatoly 15.08.2008 08:51:43

For all readers, I am copying the statement of the Soloist of the Bolshoi Theater:
People's Artist of the USSR Zurab Sotkilava makes a special statement in connection with the events in Georgia.

“I am outraged by the actions of the Russian Federation in relation to Georgia. Now is not the time to determine whose land it is and who is to blame. Russia must stop bombing peaceful cities,” he says.

According to him, the destruction of the capital of Georgia is the dream of not so few Russian politicians.

“Why are they bombing Zugdidi and the Kodori Gorge?! The front line is expanding. It destroys and damages Georgian cities that have nothing to do with the Tskhinvali region,” he says.

According to Sotkilava, Russia violates international law. Russian channels cover these events one-sidedly.

“Why does Russia care about the death of only the peaceful Ossetian population, but no one says anything about the dead Georgian civilian population?! Why is such a big media machine deceiving us?! This is unacceptable!” he says.

Mr. Sotkilava! Love for the Motherland and its people, and support for the fascist Saakashvili are not the same thing! Should you leave Russia? After such vile statements, I think it will be hard for you here!