Russian soprano Aida Garifullina was the winner of the 2013 Operalia Competition. Aida is an exclusive recording artist for Decca Records – her stunning self-titled debut album was released globally in February 2017 to unanimous critical acclaim and has been awarded a prestigious ECHO Klassik award.
Aida’s recent highlights include her sensational Opéra national de Paris debut in the title role of a new production of The Snow Maiden; solo gala concerts at the Prague Smetana Hall and the Moscow Conservatoire; concerts with Dmitri Hvorostovsky at the Grafenegg Festival and with Lawrence Brownlee at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; recitals at Wigmore Hall and the Vienna Musikverein. She has toured the USA with Andrea Bocelli; played the role of Lily Pons in the feature film Florence Foster Jenkins, and was a soloist at the 2016 Bastille Day concert in Paris.
In the 2017-2018 season, Aida will return to the Opéra national de Paris as Musetta in a new Klaus Guth production of La Bohème, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. The season will also see returns to the Wiener Staatsoper for La bohème and Rigoletto; as well as her Gran Teatre del Liceu debut in the title role of a new production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
Looking further ahead, Aida will make her debut at The Metropolitan Opera and also at the Berlin Staatsoper. She will return to the Opéra national de Paris and the Wiener Staatsoper, alongside concerts, galas, recitals, festivals, and TV broadcasts throughout Europe and beyond.
Aida is a former member of the ensemble of Wiener Staatsoper (between 2013 and 2016) where she performed various roles including Musetta’ La Bohème; Susanna, Le Nozze di Figaro; Princess Eudoxie, La Juive; Elvira, L'italiana in Algeri; Adina, L'elisir d'amore; Zerlina, Don Giovanni; Norina, Don Pasquale. Aida was also a regular principal of the Mariinsky Theatre in roles such as Natasha in War in Peace (the new production by Graham Vick which was broadcast live in cinemas), Gilda, Susanna & Adina.
Aida was born and grew up in Kazan. It was Aida’s mother, the choirmaster Laylya Ildarovna, who gave Aida her first music lessons and inspired her to be an opera singer. Later, Aida went on to study at the Nuremberg University of Music and then the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. Aida is an "Honoured Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan".
