Mzia Nioradze

Georgian mezzo-soprano Mzia Nioradze’s work in Italian, French and Russian opera has taken her to the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Mariinsky Theatre and Glyndebourne. In 2025, she returned to the Met to cover the Countess in The Queen of Spades, a role she has sung at the Mariinsky Theatre and Vilnius City Opera.

Since her Metropolitan Opera debut in Prokofiev’s War and Peace in February 2002, Ms. Nioradze has sung Maddalena in Rigoletto, Azucena, Amneris and Ulrica at the house, alongside Marina in Boris Godunov, Polina in The Queen of Spades and Marta in Iolanta. Azucena has also been central to her work elsewhere, with appearances at the Paris Opera, Teatro Regio di Parma and the Chorégies d’Orange.

She sang Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at Glyndebourne, Amneris at Norwegian National Opera, Federica in Luisa Miller at Dallas Opera and Ulrica in Vilnius. In French and Czech opera, she has appeared as Carmen at San Francisco Opera in 2002 and Ježibaba in Rusalka at the Opéra de Lyon. Other engagements include the Princess in Suor Angelica at Florida Grand Opera and appearances in South America and at Carnegie Hall.

Ms. Nioradze made her US debut in Prince Igor at Houston Grand Opera in 2001, following War and Peace at the Paris Opera in 2000. She made her international debut as Carmen at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1996 and toured with the company to Israel. Her later roles there included Amneris, Azucena, the Countess, Eboli in Don Carlo and Dalila in Samson et Dalila. Her career began at Tbilisi’s Z. Paliashvili Opera and Ballet Theatre, with repertoire including Daisi and Abesalom and Eteri.

Her recordings include Il trovatore, recorded in Parma in 2010, and Verdi’s Requiem. In December 2023, New York City’s mayor awarded her an Honorable Mention for her artistic and community work. She also performed at Brooklyn College’s Holocaust Remembrance Evening that month, receiving a Certificate of Appreciation from the Israeli community. She won a prize at the 1999 Elena Obraztsova International Competition in St. Petersburg.

Ms. Nioradze studied at the Vano Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatoire and continued her training at the Accademia d’Arte Lirica di Osimo in Italy.