Hibla Gerzmava

Hibla Gerzmava graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatoire in 1994. Since 1995, she has been a soloist of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre in Moscow. At the Theatre, she performed Adele in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Musetta and Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème, Luisa in Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lyudmila in Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, the Swan Princess in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Tale of Tsar Saltan, Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata as well as Olympia, Giulietta, and Antonia in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann. In 2002–2004, with the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, she has toured to the USA and South Korea.

Hibla Gerzmava regularly tours with her recitals to France, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Greece, Spain, USA, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, and across Russia. She has performed at the Châtelet Theatre, Champs-Élysées Theatre, Communal Theatre in Florence, Sofia Opera, Liceu Theatre in Barcelona, Queen Sofía Palace in Valencia, Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, and Bunka Kaikan Hall in Tokyo.

In 2002–2004, she participated in the Ludwigsburg Festival (Eva in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and the Guardian Angel in La Rappresentazione di anima е di corpo by Emilio de’ Cavalieri). In 2008, she made her debut with the Royal Opera Theatre, Covent Garden, as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. In 2010, she made her debut with the Metropolitan Theatre as Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann. In 2011, she participated in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Theatre, Bavarian Opera, and Roman Opera, performed Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Paris Opera, appeared at the opening of BBC Proms with the BBC Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek with Janáček’s Glagolská mše, and performed Liù in Puccini’s Turandot at the NHK Hall in Tokyo in the framework of the Mariinsky tour to Japan. In 2021, she performed Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House, Liù at the Metropolitan Opera, and Vitellia at the Vienna Opera. In February 2014, she participated in the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi performing The Olympic March with the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev. In 2016, she made her debut with the Bolshoi Theatre as Elizabeth in Verdi’s Don Carlo. In 2017, she performed the same role in French in a new production by Krzysztof Warlikowski at the Paris Opera. In 2017, she made her debut with La Scala as Anna in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena. In 2018, she made her debut with the Dresden Opera as Desdemona in Verdi’s Othello and Zurich Opera as Leonora in Verdi’s La forza del destino. In 2019, she performed Desdemona at the Paris Opera and Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore at the Madrid Royal Theatre. In 2020, she performed Amelia Grimaldi in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Vienna Opera. In 2021, she made her debut as Norma in Bellini’s Norma at the Madrid Royal Theatre.

She has cooperated with Lorin Maazel, Antonio Pappano, Marco Armiliato, Ádám Fischer, Fabio Luisi, Vladimir Spivakov, Valery Gergiev, Alexander Rudin, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Vasily Sinaisky, Evgeny Brazhnik, Wolf Gorelik, Felix Korobov, Alexander Sladkovsky, and other conductors. She has given various jazz concerts with Daniil Kramer, Denis Matzuev, Deborah Brown, Yakov Okun, Andrey Ivanov, Arkady Shilkloper, Dmitry Sevastianov, and Georgy Garanian.

In 2001, the singer launched the festival “Hibla Gerzmava Invites...”, which happens every year in the Republic of Abkhazia, as well as in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre in Moscow, Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York as well as in St Moritz in Switzerland.

Russian State Award in Literature and Art (2021)
Russian Ministry of Defense Award in Culture and Art (2021)
“Golden Mask” Highest National Theatre Award (“Best Female Role in Opera” for Médée in Cherubini’s Médée, 2016)
“Triumph” Award for Highest Achievements in Literature and Arts (2011)
Title “People’s Artist of Russia” (2012)
“Golden Mask” Highest National Theatre Award (“Best Female Role in Opera” for Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, 2010)
“Casta Diva” Award (“Best Singer” for Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, 2010)
Moscow City Award in Literature and Art (for Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, 2010)
Title “Honoured Artist of Russia” (2006)
Title “People’s Artist of the Republic of Abkhazia” (2006)
“Golden Orpheus” Award (“Best Singer”, 2001)
Gran Prix for the Tchaikovsky International Competition (1994)