In 2009, a young unknown Georgian mezzo-soprano made her operatic debut in the title role of Bizet's "Carmen."

The production starred Jonas Kaufmann and Erwin Schrott and it was conducted by Daniel Barenboim. The occasion was the opening night of the Teatro alla Scala di Milano.

The singer in question was Anita Rachvelishvili, and the debut put her on the map as the performance was broadcast live around the world. Two years later, she would make her Metropolitan Opera debut and become one of the most sought-after Carmens of our time.

And now, the 30-year-old Rachvelishvili, who is just five years into her career, has returned to the Met to sing "Carmen," just three years after her debut at the famed opera house. But this occasion is made all the more special by the fact that the performance will be part of the company's award-winning "Live in HD" series and will be broadcast in movie theaters around the world.

"It's going to be a beautiful experience," Rachvelishvili said about being broadcast live during a recent interview with Latin Post. Last year, Rachvelishvili made her HD debut in the small role of Konchakovna in Borodin's "Prince Igor", but for her, this time will be different.

"This time it's not going to be a small role. Konchakovna is really important but Carmen is always on stage and it's going to be hard and amazing at the same time," she said.

Rachvelishvili actually relishes the opportunity to have an HD broadcast because she thinks it elevates her performance.     

"You don't need special preparations. You just need to remember the difference between the people seeing you from the audience and the people seeing you in the movies with the cameras in your face. You need to express more," she noted. "Usually in the theater and the stage...we tend to act more with our body than with our faces to show people our emotions.

"But when you're doing HD you need to express yourself and emotions on your face. So it's a little bit different."

After hundreds of performances of Bizet's opera, Rachvelishvili admits this is the role that best describes who she is.

"I think Carmen is pretty close to my personality. Maybe not 100 percent but at least 70 or 80 percent. So I am singing the role that fits me perfectly," Rachvelishvili said.

She also says that singing the iconic character numerous times has helped her interpretation evolve.

"It's changed a lot because first of all now I have more experience, I know more about the character. I feel it more and it's more familiar to me," she revealed. "In 2009, I studied the role in every way possible, but after all these productions and all these years, you change your opinion on what you do on stage."

Working with numerous directors has helped in that regard.

"Sometimes, it changes because of the directors. So there are different point of views about the character. So it also changes my interpretation of the role," she said.

Despite the evolution of her interpretation, there are aspects of Carmen's character that have remained consistent for her, particularly in when examining the central relationship of the opera.

"My way of seeing Carmen and the relationship with Don Jose is always the same. Carmen is really in love with Don Jose, so I always try to show that and try to make it clear that she is in love," Rachvelishvili explained.

She also believes that the relationship between Escamillo, the bullfighter, and Carmen is essentially a means of escaping reality.

"Being with Escamillo at the end is just an [escape from] a really jealous and crazy man like Don Jose," she stated. "Carmen knows that the cards are not lying and she knows she is going to die. So she tries to change her destiny. That's my opinion. In the end, she is not in love with Escamillo. If you read the book by [Prosper] Merimee, you see that she is crazy about Don Jose exactly like he is crazy about Carmen."

"There are difficult relationships in which you realize that no matter how much you love somebody you can't be with that person. This is the case with Carmen and Don Jose."

For this revival at the Met, Rachvelishvili had a new experience. Although she has sung the current Richard Eyre production twice, Rachvelishvili actually never had the chance to work with the famed director.

This season, however, Eyre returned to direct the performance. "Richard Eyre was here directing the 'Marriage of Figaro' so he had time to stage 'Carmen,'" she explained. "So we worked for two weeks on the production. Of course, Richard made it possible for the role and production to fit me.

"A couple of things were more violent and more physical because he realized that I could do it so he changed it and added a couple of fights. So it's a little different and I think it's better than before," Rachvelishvili added.

One of the biggest changes was during the Act 3 confrontation. In this scene, Don Jose pushes Carmen to the ground and the direction is so vivid that Rachvelishvili's fall had audiences questioning whether she was hurt or not.

"When I was doing this production in 2011, they taught me the right way to fall without hurting myself. Now I know it and every time I do it, it looks real. It looks like I am hurting myself, but it is always really safe," she said. "This is the good thing about the stage directors at the Met. They do their job really beautifully."

For this revival of "Carmen," Rachvelishvili worked with Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, who is widely recognized for his interpretation of Don Jose. Rachvelishvili noted that he was "an amazing singer with a great technique. I can learn a lot from him and he's a great artist with a lot of experience. I'm so happy to work with him and to be in the same space together."

However, live theater has a tendency to create surprises and during this run, Antonenko had to step out from two performances due to illness. On those occasions, American tenor Brandon Jovanovich took over the role of Don Jose to great success. Latin Post called the performance "an absolutely enjoyable and powerful night."

Both Rachvelishvili and Jovanovich possessed an undeniable chemistry that made the evening memorable. Luckily for both of them, they did not need much rehearsal time to find that synergy as they had previously worked together in other productions of "Carmen." According to Rachvelishvili, the two have worked together in Verona and Germany

"I love working with [Brandon]. He has a beautiful voice and a really strong presence on stage," she said.

And a strong stage presence is exactly what the mezzo soprano needs each time she is on stage. She admitted, "I need a strong personality on stage from my partner and I need huge energy which I have sometimes. But sometimes there is no energy or no chemistry or connection. So you cannot do anything."

Rachvelishvili also credits conductor Pablo Heras-Casado who hails from Granada, Spain for guiding her in this revival.

"We worked a lot and he's a great conductor. He knows the score really well and he's from Granada. So he feels the music in the right way. It's really easy to work with him. His interpretation is more Spanish but it's exciting and fascinating," she said.

Once her performances at the Met conclude, the Georgian mezzo will take a break from "Carmen" to explore different repertoire.

A day after the HD performance she will return to the New York City club Le Poisson Rouge to give a recital with Georgian pianist David Aladashvili.

It is her third appearance in this venue, and what brings her back is the environment and the fact that she can relax on stage.

"I did a crossover concert with my Georgian band after 'Prince Igor [during the 2013-14 season].' The recital I did was Broadway and Piazzolla music," she stated. "This year is going to be a classical concert with French, Spanish and Russian music so it's going to be a completely classical and traditional concert."

Regarding the venue, she added, "It's a beautiful place and they have the right audiences. A lot of classical singers go there and do recitals. This is a downtown club where people eat and drink during the concert. It's more salon style concert and it's more relaxed. It's about having fun. I think it's important because people forget that classical music is beautiful and you can relax when listening to opera or classical music."

After her concert, she returns to Italy to perform Verdi. Rachvelishvili was part of the Young Artists Program of the Teatro alla Scala and her return to this theater is something that excites her. She will sing the role of Amneris in "Aida," which was her first Verdi role and one that she has performed in Verona and Detroit.

"'Aida' was one of my first Verdi operas and I'm really looking forward to doing it at La Scala. I did Amneris in Verona and it's going to be different because Arena di Verona is a huge place and you have to use all of your voice to project in that stage. La Scala is smaller and the acoustics are different. So I am going to experience something new."

Amneris is one of the many iconic roles for mezzo that the composer created. Rachvelishvili stated that Verdi is perfect for her voice.

"He's one of my favorite composers. Verdi's writing for voices is perfect. It forces you to sing the right way and have a good technique because if you don't have a technique you can't sing Verdi. You can't finish the opera,"

While she has plans on singing more Verdi roles in the future, Rachvelishvili wants to be frugal with the composer's works. She believes that at this stage in her career it is better to limit her commitments to the repertoire.

"I think Verdi is right for my voice but I want to be careful because I am still too young for Verdi. Right now I am trying to take more French operas, which are right for my voice right now. Verdi is good and technically perfect. I need to experience that, but not much," Rachvelishvili said.

The Mezzo's rise in the opera world is all the more prominent when one considers her humble beginnings in Georgia. She revealed that despite being passionate about singing, she never actually had a chance to go to the opera until her teenage years.

"When I was 17, my father and my mother decided to try and go to the vocal teacher," she stated. "They wanted a teacher to hear my voice. I remember this vocal teacher was also an opera singer. So she said, 'You have a beautiful voice and it's big and it's right for opera.'"

It was this very teacher -- whom Rachvelishvili never mentioned by name throughout the interview -- that allowed her to experience opera for the first time. And it was this moment, during a performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni," that changed her life.

"The vocal teacher invited me to see 'Don Giovanni.' I am from a very poor family in Georgia so I had never been in an opera house before that," Rachvelishvili said. "Of course, I listened to recordings but it is not the same as being in the theater. I remember after the first act I just decided that this was what I wanted to do in my life. It was beautiful, the singers and the production was really interesting. I just decided that theater was the right place for me because I was feeling so emotional, so full of life and so full of energy."

She continued, "From that day I decided to start to take vocal lessons and went to the conservatory of V. Sarajishvili and now I am here at the Met."

Rachvelishvili's voice has been described as "blazing" and "dusky", but she contends that you can have the greatest voice in the world and still not make it in the opera world.

She said, "Its not the voice. Of course you have to maintain a healthy voice. But I think it is essential to be smart enough and clever enough. There is a beautiful part to this job but if you just see the beautiful part then you can't survive.

"I know a lot of singers with amazing voices, but they cannot make it. Maybe because they are singing the wrong repertoire, they are not treating people in the right way or they are acting like divas or divos. There are a lot of small details which you have to know," she explained.

Rachvelishvili also noted that the most important part is "to stay the same person you were before. You just need to be a good person, but realize that this is not about yourself. When you are on stage you have a chorus, conductor, people who work on stage. If there is one thing missing there is a chain reaction. The show will stop or it is not going to be the same. So to sum it up we have to be human and just be kind to each other. Try to have good relationships with our colleagues and the people who work with us."

Opera stars are constantly traveling and this is what Rachvelishvili called the hardest thing about her profession. "It's hard being far away from my family and being alone all the time. But it's always going to be there. So you have to keep your mind in the right place and not go crazy because of this."

However, she always maintains herself busy. She said, "I have a couple of hobbies. I love photography and I love cooking. So when I have free time, I cook for my friends and they just come over and have a good time. Or I just go to the park and take pictures or beautiful videos. I love to enjoy life and have a good time."

Another unique characteristic of Rachvelishvili is that she maintains contact with her fans through such social media platforms as Twitter and Instagram. She believes it is essential to maintain a great career and meet new people.

"I think it's really important because I have been in touch with people who contact me and just want to meet me. I have met a couple of really good friends doing this. So I always love to do this."

She concludes, "They give positive energy and a lot of love. I do what I do on stage to receive at least 10 percent back. Being in contact with those people, I feel that is right and it makes me happier."

Looking into the future, Rachvelishvili revealed that she hopes to do more French opera. Her dream role is Charlotte in Massenet's "Werther."

"I hope I am going to sing it very soon. It's not easy and it's a really beautiful role. But the theaters, they think my voice is too big for that type of role. I really love it and I want to sing it," she explained.  

One of the assignments that is coming, however, is Dailila in Saint Saens' "Samson et Dailila" in Paris. She also disclosed that she will be performing the work at the Met in two seasons.

Dailila is one of the pinnacle roles of the mezzo repertoire and it is often compared to Carmen as both operas center on passionate love affairs between a seductress and a faithful man who is driven to murder.

However, Rachvelishvili does not see any similarities. As a matter of fact, for her, the character of Dailila "is completely different. First of all, Carmen is a free woman, really proud of herself. But she is not mean. Dailila is a really, really mean woman."

She continued, "She is not in love with Samson, she just wants to understand the secret and then just kill him. She is really strong like Carmen and really proud like Carmen. But her objective is to win the war between the nations. It's really different. The story is different. Their reasoning is different and Dailila and Samson are not in love."

Looking further into the future, Rachvelishvili noted her ambitions for potentially exploring the dramatic soprano repertoire. One of her favorite roles is Lady Macbeth in Verdi's "Macbeth" and she admitted that it is a role she hopes she can sing in her mid 40s.

"I would do Lady Macbeth. I really love that opera and I think it could be a great idea. But I need to see first how my voice will evolve and change," she admitted. "I don't know. Maybe I will become even more contralto than I am right now."

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