The Metropolitan Opera is set to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a star-studded cast of “Adriana Lecouvreur” and talk has been about the diva and the tenor.

But there is one artist in the cast that can’t be overlooked in the least – Anita Rachvelishvili. These performances of the Princess de Bouillon will be special because they will feature the first time she sings a staged production of the opera and the first time she appears in the New Year’s Eve showcase at the Met Opera.

It has been a major year for the Georgian mezzo, who has been expanding her repertoire and making her first solo CD. It has also seen her status grow at the Metropolitan Opera especially after her Azucena in “Il Trovatore” and Amneris in “Aida.” Both performances showed the young mezzo steal the show and conquer the critics. Now she returns for the second opera this season and goes head to head again with Anna Netrebko in her first verismo role at the Met. It will also be her first stage performances of the opera, which she first performed in a concert performance in 2011. When she sang the role at Carnegie Hall critics said, “she is definitely a name to watch.”

Seven years later that name has been hailed as the greatest Verdi mezzo of her time and will definitely leave her mark on the role.

And if you miss these performances, Rachvelishvili will return to the Met for a series of performances of “Samson et Dalila” later this season and will sing concert performances of “Adriana Lecouvreur” at the Salzburg Festival. She will also sing concert performances of “Aida” with Riccardo Muti and Francesco Meli.

Recordings 

For those not familiar with Rachvelishvili’s voice, she can be heard in her first solo album for Sony Classical and on two “Aida” recordings from the Teatro Regio di Torino and the Teatro alla Scala. She can also be heard on a DVD of Prince Igor and “Orfeo ed Euridice.”

Here she is a preview of “Adriana Lecouvreur” from the Metropolitan Opera.