New York’s Carnegie Hall stage to showcase Georgian stars

One of the major international opera stages, the Carnegie Hall venue in New York, will see major Georgian stars join each other in celebration of the First Democratic Republic of the country.

In the Stern Auditorium, internationally acclaimed opera artists Nino Machaidze, George Gagnidze and Shalva Mukeria will be joined by award-winning pianist Elisso Bolkvadze to headline A Georgian Night.

Hosted to mark the centennial since the founding of the 1918-1921 Georgian republic, the show will involve performances of highlights from opera works by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Georges Bizet, among other composers.

Clockwise from top left: Nino Machaidze, George Gagnidze, Shalva Mukeria and Elisso Bolkvadze will headline the concert.

The selected performers have been based in Georgia or abroad over the recent years but have all been featured at prestigious international venues or with performing troupes recently:

Gagnidze is cast in the principal role of a new Metropolitan Opera production of Rigoletto;

Machaidze was featured for opera classic Guillaume Tell at Italy’s Teatro Massimo earlier this year, alongside another Georgian soprano Salome Jicia;

Madrid-based tenor Shalva Mukeria was cast as Arturo Talbo in the Italian venue’s production of I puritani in April;

Bolkvadze, the first Georgian to be recognised as UNESCO Artist for Peace, performed at the UNESCO Concert Hall in Paris last month.

Their roster will be joined by vocalist Nutsa Shanshiashvili and pianist Bradley Moore.

The show A Georgian Night will run at the Carnegie Hall on July 18, as part of year-long celebrations of Georgia’s national anniversary marked in the country and abroad.