Michael Bachtadze

Baritone

Native Georgian baritone Michael Bachtadze has just finished a new production of PÉLLEAS ET MÉLISANDE/Golaud at the Teatro Regio di Parma and is in preparation of his debut at the Den Jyske Opera for the role of Amonasro in Verdis AIDA. In the past month he has had a couple of cancellations, amongst others his debut for the role of Paolo in Verdis SIMONE BOCCANEGRA at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he had been covering Don Carlo de Vargas in Verdis LA FORZA DEL DESTINO End of 2019. During the summer 2020 he sang the title role of Verdis NABUCCO in a new production at the Festung Ehrenbreitstein (open air).

In the 18/19 season he had been reinvented to the ROH in London to cover Tomskij/PIQUE DAME, to sing Germont/LA TRAVIATA in Hannovers acclaimed production, directed by Benedikt von Peters and alongside Nicole Chevalier with DVD production aswell as for a revival of NABUCCO at the Staatstheater Saarbrücken. He also had his first collaboration with Nicholas Carter at the Theater in Klagenfurt, where he took over the role of Golaud in PELLEAS ET MELISANDE. This production was not only very much in the spotlight as the costumes were desingned by Christian Lacroix, but won also the „Grand Prix de la Critique“ for the best production of the year after the opening at the Theatre des Cahamps.Elysées. He ended the season with a concert version of PARSIFAL/Amfortas under the baton of Stephen Sloane.

Before he made his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London as Michele in IL TABARRO under the baton of Maestro Nicola Luisotti, where he was also covering the title role of GIANNI SCHICCHI for Lucio Gallo. After this collaboration Lucio Gallo invited him to participate in a recording of FALSATFF as Ford he was doing with Sony Classic in Croatia.

In the summer 2015 he had mainly worked in Italy. After his successful Italian debut as Mercutio in Gounods ROMEO ET JULIETTE in the summer 2013 at the prestigious festival at Arena di Verona, Michael Bachtadze was reinvited to sing the same role in the summer 2014 alongside Vittorio Grigolo and 2015. The other italian Festival he worked at was the Taomina Festival in Sicily, where he performed Escamillo/CARMEN alongside Elena Maximova. The opening of this production was broadcast on HD live streaming worldwide. The season 2015/16 continued with a revival of Tschaikowskis PIQUE DAME/Tomskij in Innsbruck, Marcello/LA BOHEME in Brigitte Fassbaenders staging, the mentioned London contract and more. In 2014/15 he had a great success in Innsbruck/Austria in the new production of Cileas ADIRANA LECOUVREUR/Michonnet under the baton of Francesco Angelico (where the opera was told as Michonnets dream, a production that won two Austrian Theatre Prizes), sang a production of LA TRAVIATA/Germont and another new production in Innsbruck/Austria (Tschaikowskis PIQUE DAME/Tomskij). Alfio and Tonio in CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA/PAGLIACCI, Ezio in ATTILA, Renato/UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, Enrico/LUCIA DI LAMMERMOORE and Tschaikowskis PIQUE DAME/Tomskij, the later at the Staatstheater Braunschweig alongside Dame Gwyneth Jones, were on his schedule before. In a new production of Wagners PARSIFAL in Coburg he was casted to sing Klingsor and Amfortas the very same evening. He got to sing the role of Amfortas also at Staatstheater Chemnitz under the baton of Guillermo Garcia-Calvo.

In concert version he sang very successfully Escamillo/CARMEN with the MDR Orchestra (radio) in Leipzig (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk), which was broadcast and Amonasro/AIDA in a Gala concert alongside Karine Babajanyan and Thomas Hampson at Staatstheater Hannover under the baton of Iván Repusic.

In the 2013/14 season he gave three noteworthy house debuts, including one of his much acclaimed roles, Escamillo in Bizets CARMEN at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Marcello in Puccinis BOHEME at Oper Leipzig and Créon in Cherubinis MEDEA in Innsbruck/Austria.

Future projects include – beside the mentioned AIDA in Denmark – a new production of Leoncavallos I PAGLIACCI and Hameriks LA VENDETTA at the Den Jyske Opera on one evening and later the postponed new production of SIMONE BOCCANEGRA at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Michael Bachtadze graduated from his hometown Conservatory at Tbilisi/Georgia, followed by supplement studies in Germany where he is based since then. While he was still in University he was invited to sing many concerts in Georgia as well as throughout Europe, including England (London; Royal Albert Hall), France, Norway (Bergen; Grieg – Hall), Germany (Berlin), Switzerland and Austria.

He began his professional career as a member of Theater Bielefeld singing roles from the bass-baritone repertoire, and had outstanding successes there in roles such as Figaro/LE NOZZE DI FIGARO in the opening production of the renovated opera house, Ruslan in Glinkas RUSLAN UND LUDMILLA, whose premiere was broadcasted live on Deutschlandradio Kultur, Golaud/PELLEAS ET MELISANDE, Lord Sidney/IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, Wurm/LUISA MILLER and Amonasro/AIDA. All together there he sang more than 25 roles.

Since he sucessfully made the change to the baritone repertoire he has sung major roles in many opera houses in Europe. His main repertoire includes such as Giorgio Germont/LA TRAVIATA (Verdi), Renato/UN BALLO IN MASCHERA (Verdi), (both of which he prepared with the remarkable Giorgio Zancanaro), Ford/FALSTAFF (Verdi), Don Carlo/LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (Verdi), Jago/OTELLO (Verdi), Marcello/LA BOHEME , Michele/IL TABARRO, Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), Robert/IOLANTA, Tomskij/PIQUE DAME (Tschaikowski), DON GIOVANNI (Mozart), Enrico/LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Donizetti) and Escamillo/CARMEN (Bizet). The latter he sang in a new production for the Berliner Seefestspiele 2012, directed by Oscar awarded Volker Schlöndorff, of which the premiere was broadcast on the ARTE TV in France and Germany.

He appeared in a variety of German Opera Houses as guest artist, among others in Deutsche Oper am Rhein/Düsseldorf, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Oper Halle, Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Landestheater Coburg, Theater Heidelberg, Oper Leipzig, Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Staatsoper Hannover and Oper Köln. His debut at Semperoper Dresden was the premiere of IOLANTA (Tschaikowski) under the baton of Vlamidir Jurowski and was celebrated by the audience as well as by the critics. This also led to an invitation to sing there Marcello/LA BOHEME there. Internationally he has appeared in Opera Houses in Switzerland, Norway, Austria, Denmark, Georgia, Poland and Italy.

Michael Bachtadze is winner of the “International Open Opera Gesangswettbewerb” 2012 (Berlin). He has been awarded with the Operntaler 2007 for his outstanding achievements and was nominated in „Kritikerumfrage NRW 2007 – Musiktheater“ as the best male newcomer/vocal (theater pur 07/08 2007).

He has sung in concert with Orchestras including Bochumer Symphoniker, Bayerisches Rundfunkorchester München, Orchester des Mitteldeutschen Rundfunks Leipzig, Münchner Symphoniker and worked with great conductors in concerts and operas, amongst others Daniel Oren, Nicola Luisotti, Alexander Joel, Vladimir Jurowski, Jan-Letham Koenig, Guillermo Garcia-Calvo, Ivan Repusic, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Alexander Kalajdzic, Marc Piollet, Dirk Kaftan, Kevin Edusei, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Alexander Vedernikov, Jacques Delacôte, Cornelius Meister and Marko Letonja.

Past Events

20, 22 January 2023 | Teatro di Modena
Pelleas et Melisande - Golaud

Photos

Reviews

Lucia di Lammermoor Staatstheater Darmstadt 2019

«Der Bariton Michael Bachtadze kam als Lucias Bruder gerade noch zur rechten Zeit und fügte sich sängerisch und darstellerisch ausgezeichnet ein.»
Frankfurter Rundschau


Parsifal Landestheater Coburg 2017

«Amfortas und Klingsor liegen in den Händen des aus dem italienischen Fach kommenden MICHAEL BACHTADZE. Stimmich souverän und klug einteilend singt er beide Partien mit Würde und Noblesse.»
Online Merker