Tea Purtseladze opened the opera Oscar nomination with legendary singer Andrea Bocelli in Venice on October 1st. We reached out to Tea to congratulate her on this wonderful accomplishment and chat with her about her career and future plans.

First of all, please, introduce yourself.

Tea: Hello. My name is Tea Purtseladze. I was born and raised in Georgia, and I got my education here too – I am an opera singer. I live and work in Italy.

Did you always want to be a singer? Tell us how you appeared on stage for the first time.

Tea: As a kid, I was involved in all kinds of activities – I took different courses, but I was mainly dancing and singing. There’s this one day I remember very well from when I was 14. There was a classical performance concert on television and I impulsively started singing along and realized that my voice sounded exactly like theirs. I was very pleased because of how naturally it came to me. I got this strong desire to be heard by someone competent in opera, but since we did not know anyone, it didn’t work out.

A couple of years passed, and my life changed completely. I got married and became a member of the great genius, Amiran Shalikashvili’s family. His wife was the incredible Kira Mebuke who, as I found out later, had an amazing mezzo-soprano voice in her youth. She also had a great desire to sing professionally, but it didn’t work out for her. Instead, she respectfully stood by her husband, studied the art of pantomime, and played a big role in the development of the theatre.

One day I was playing on the grand piano and I started to sing along. Kira ran into the room and told me that I had an amazing voice and somebody should definitely hear it. I got filled with hope, but still had some doubts. The next day, they took me to Tbilisi Opera House where Temur Gugushvili, the greatest Georgian singer of our time, listened to my voice and told me that it was quite an interesting one:

“This is the kind of voice that could have a great future and conquer the opera world.”

My life changed radically after that day. It was quite unexpected how the words of one person completely altered the direction of my life.

So I studied the beautiful but at the same time very hard and intense art of the opera. I’ll add that, in my profession, both moral and material support is very important, for which I thank my mother the most. If it weren’t for her, all of this would have never been possible.

What does it feel like to perform in front of thousands of people?

Tea: Every time I step out in front of the audience I get the same feeling and I grow more and more certain that:
“This is what I always wanted to do.”
You experience pleasure and at the same time please hundreds or even thousands of people. It is a wonderful feeling.

Why did you leave Georgia?

Tea: The reason I left Georgia was my great desire to evolve and step on the international stage. But I can boldly state that one of the best opera schools is in Georgia, and people admit it abroad as well. That is the reason why some of the most famous and successful singers in the opera world are, in fact, Georgian.

One more reason for my departure is the fact that the National Conservatory after Vano Javakhishvili was closed for renovation.

How would you describe Georgian opera?

Tea: Georgian opera — one of the things we should be proud of. We have outstanding local soloists.
I am quite pleased by the fact that today it functions with full intensity. Apart from that, many new projects take place in Tbilisi Opera theatre that are associated with today’s art director Badri Maisuradze. Mr. Maisuradze is putting all of his efforts to manifest the Georgian theatre which obviously is a marvelous thing. I’d like to mention his recent successful project, the festival dedicated to J. Verdi. The festival is annually held in Parma, but the Georgian community got the opportunity to host the festival in 2019.

Tell us about the road to your career development.

Tea: I think my first success was my first festival. When I was still a student I sang one of the hardest parts of Maro in Z. Paliashvili’s opera called “Daisi”. I still remember the viewers’ watery eyes and relentless applause. It was an amazing feeling I’ll always remember.

The next step in my career development took place in Italy. I left Georgia once I finished the conservatory. It was hard but interesting. My first success on the European stage was with the project “Taormina Opera Stars”. There was an audition for the characters of J. Verdi’s famous opera “Traviata”. I was aiming for the main role of Violeta. I had to compete against 400 other singers for the role.

The performance was to be held in Sicily, in one of the oldest Greek theatres with enough room to accommodate more than 7 000 people. This project was unique because they were looking for three different Violetas each for one of the three acts. I got the most important — the third act. This meant that I had to close the play. It was a very exciting moment for me.
I would also like to mention the project that happened this summer, where I played a very important role in “Tosca” with a famous Tenor and opera star Marcello Giordani. Maestro himself expressed a desire to have me as his partner on stage. This performance caught a lot of attention. People wrote positive and pleasant critiques about me. The festival was called “The Sixth Sense.”

What would you wish you knew when you were starting your career?

Tea: I’d wish to have known about the hardships related to this profession. It would’ve helped me overcome them more easily. But you can’t learn that without directly experiencing it. In our field, hard work and patience are the most important things.