It was Rachvelishvili’s performance in the Verdi classic at New York’s Metropolitan Opera that earned the mezzo-soprano her spot among singers, shows and festivals that the newspaper picked as the finest of stage art. This young Georgian mezzo-soprano had been daringly grim in Carmen and sensuous in Prince Igor in recent seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, but I was still unprepared for her overwhelming portrayal of Azucena in Verdi’s Il Trovatore in January, sung with bel canto elegance and startling authority”, critic Zachary Woolfe noted.

The performer’s reintroduction of “warmth, fear and eloquence” to the role was pivotal for Woolfe to pick Rachvelishvili for the honours. The singer’s selection in the list of top performances comes in the year in which Rachvelishvili unveiled her debut albumand was named a winner of the German Record Critics’ Award for her recording of arias by opera composers. She also enjoyed a major year in 2017, claiming the Best Female Singer Award in a poll from opera review website Bachtrack and being nominated for the International Opera Awards. The Georgian singer rose to international fame with her 2009 title role performance of Carmen at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. She also received critical acclaim from Huffington Post for her 2014 appearance in the same opera at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The mezzo-soprano has also performed in productions staged at other prominent international venues including Staatsoper Berlin and San Francisco Opera.