Opera singer, lyric-dramatic tenor, soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, People's Artist of the USSR and the Georgian SSR Zurab Lavrentievich Sotkilava was born on March 12, 1937 in Sukhum (Abkhazia). His father, Lavrentiy Sotkilava, was a historian, and his mother, Ksenia Karchava, worked as a doctor.
Since childhood, Zurab was fond of football. At the age of 16, he joined the junior team of the Georgian national team, then became its captain. In 1956, the team won the All-Union competitions, and Sotkilava was accepted into the main team of Dynamo Tbilisi.
Zurab began to study vocals at a young age with Nikolai Bokuchava, professor at the Tbilisi Conservatory. Classes were held in the interval between football training and games.
After an injury received in 1959, Sotkilava decided to devote himself to operatic singing.
In 1960, after graduating from the Mining Faculty of the Georgian Polytechnic Institute (now the Georgian Technical University), he was admitted to the V. Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatory. At first, his voice was defined as a baritone, but, while studying in his third year, Sotkilava fell into the class of David Andguladze, who discovered the lyric-dramatic tenor in a student, which led to further achievements of the young singer.
In 1965, Zurab Sotkilava graduated from the Tbilisi Conservatory, in 1972 - postgraduate studies at the Tbilisi Conservatory.
After graduating from the conservatory, he was admitted to the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater named after Z. Paliashvili. Here Sotkilava made a successful debut, performing leading roles in various operas, including Tosca and La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, national operas Abesalom and Eteri by Zakharia Paliashvili, Mindia by Otar Taktakishvili and others.
In 1966-1968, Zurab Sotkilava trained at the La Scala Theater under the direction of Gennaro Barra and Enrico Piazza, where he prepared the role of the Duke in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, Jose in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Turrida in Pietro Mascagni's Rural Honor . After that, in Italy they began to call him one of the best interpreters of Italian opera classics.
In 1973, Sotkilava made his debut at the Bolshoi Theater as Jose in the opera Carmen.
In 1974, the singer was invited to the Bolshoi Theater Opera Company.
At the Bolshoi, in different years, he performed the parts of Manrico in Il trovatore, Radamès in Aida, Richard in Un ballo in maschera, Ishmael in Nabucco and Otello in Giuseppe Verdi's opera of the same name, Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca , Turiddu in Pietro Mascagni's Rustic Honor. The singer's repertoire includes the Russian operas "Iolanta" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, "Sadko" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, "Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshchina" by Modest Mussorgsky. Zurab Sotkilava was the first performer of the parts of Baron Kalloandro in Giovanni Paisiello's The Beautiful Miller's Woman and Arzakan in Otar Taktakishvili's The Rape of the Moon.
Zurab Sotkilava is married. The tenor has two daughters - Thea (born in 1967) and Ketino (born in 1971).
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
How the defender of Dynamo became an opera star and soloist of the Bolshoi Theater
Died September 18 Zurab Lavrentievich Sotkilava. The famous tenor was a unique person - not only in his voice data. The title of People's Artist of the USSR was awarded to him in 1979. And 20 years before that, Sotkilava, as part of Dynamo Tbilisi, became the bronze medalist of the USSR football championship. "Sport No. 1" at first almost deprived the world of an opera star, and then either interfered, or, on the contrary, helped the outstanding artistic fate of Zurab Lavrentievich.
Executed boots
The small homeland of Sotkilava is sunny Sukhumi, the boy was born in March 1937. As in the vast majority of Georgian families, everyone in his family sang and played different instruments. Zurab was not seriously interested in singing, he adored football. There were no balls in his military and post-war childhood. The boys pulled out grass, on the roots of which a clod of earth dangled, and on it they practiced tricks.
Zurab grew rapidly as a footballer. In Dynamo Sukhumi, the boy played as a defender, which implies persistence and tenacity. These qualities were fully manifested in the further biography of Sotkilava. Mom was completely horrified. She specially saved up money, bought a piano for her son and took the guy by the hand to the music school. They said: it's too late to learn the piano at the age of 12, let's go to the singing class. Mom perked up...
And the son at that time in the sports section received a real miracle - Hungarian boots. Not only did he sleep with them, but he used every bit of butter, which was then in short supply, to lubricate his precious shoes. Mom, having accidentally met a music teacher, found out that Zurab does not appear at the school at all. In her heart, the woman pulled out her boots from under the pillow and hit them with an axe.
Extra ticket
But this did not stop Zurab. At the age of 16, he was invited to Dynamo Tbilisi, one of the best Soviet football clubs, then to the youth team of the Georgian SSR. Mom was even more horrified: after all, she dreamed that her son would be her help and support, and he left more and more often. The only thing that reconciled her with football was the fact that in Tbilisi Zurab was promised to be “arranged” in a medical institute. But the competition turned out to be so high that even football connections did not help, and the young man was forced to enter the Polytechnic as a mining engineer.
One day, 18-year-old Zurab came to visit his mother. A friend of the family, a pianist, came to visit. Together with his mother, they once again began to persuade the guy not to bury his musical talent in the ground, they promised to connect a professor at the Tbilisi Conservatory. With Zurab, all this flew past his ears.
But I still had to meet the professor. The coryphaeus of music began to turn to the young man with a request to get tickets for the matches of Dynamo Tbilisi. By the way, at first he had a low opinion of Zurab's voice. But when Zurab received several serious injuries and realized that he had to stop playing football, and he was not interested in mining, the professor nevertheless began to work with Sotkilava and came to the conclusion that the former defender had a chance to enter the stage.
with a new voice
Immediately after graduating from the Polytechnic University, Sotkilava successfully passed the exams at the famous Tbilisi Conservatory. There he saw his future wife. Eliso who studied to be a pianist. As Zurab Lavrentievich admitted, he did not approach her for two years, but he imperceptibly rubbed off other gentlemen. Once, after a student concert, Eliso rewarded Zurab with a candy, and since then their romance began. Later, two daughters were born in the family, who later gave grandchildren to their parents.
Sotkilava's perseverance helped him realize his singing dream. At the conservatory, he sang as a baritone, but wanted to become a tenor, like the great Mario del Monaco. The teacher answered him something like this: you never know who I want to be, what is given by nature, you can’t change it. Then Zurab turned to the professor David Anzuladze. Largely thanks to this man, the world recognized the tenor Sotkilava.
Sports and muse
Already after graduating from the conservatory, they decided to send Zurab for an internship at Milan's La Scala. But out of envy, someone scribbled an anonymous letter on the young singer. I had to go to Moscow to sort things out. When the artist entered the office, the man who got up from the table immediately said: “I know you, I saw you as a player!” And he began to instruct what to do in Italy if provocations begin.
In Milan, football again intervened in music, however, there these two elements reign supreme. Theatrical patrons had a habit of gathering and kicking the ball in the stadium. The losing team laid a chic table. Once, having discovered that the trainee Sotkilava seems to understand something in football (they did not know the details), the Italians invited him to the team. The professional "carried" unfortunate patrons throughout the game. Since then, Zurab regularly played with them and thanks to this he learned Italian well.
The teacher is a gentleman
In 1973, a misfortune happened - the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theater burned down in Tbilisi. Zurab was invited to Moscow, to the Bolshoi Theater, to rehearse the part Jose at Carmen. A few years later, on this famous stage, he sang one of the most difficult opera parts - Othello, on which many stars lost their voices, and one singer, having taken a high note, even broke a rib from a strong breath.
Subsequently, Sotkilava sang in the theaters of Paris, Milan, US cities and received rave reviews everywhere.
In the mid-1970s, he began teaching. He was adored by students who said that few people are as busy with their students as Zurab Lavrentievich. The girls admired his gentlemanship.
Among the students of Sotkilava is a tenor Vladimir Bogachev, baritone Vladimir Redkin, tenor Alexey Dolgov and many others.
Life to the last note
In early 2015, Sotkilava learned about his terrible diagnosis - pancreatic cancer. The 78-year-old tenor said: "I will sing as long as I can go on stage."
... He has seen more than once how his friends fought for their lives with all their might. One of the people closest to him was the famous commentator Nikolai Ozerov. By the way, once Sotkilava performed in a play, Ozerov was in his permanent place in the box, which was very close to the stage. At this time, the Moscow "Spartak" played with the Tbilisi "Dynamo". At some point, Sotkilava saw that the prompter was not in place. Soon he appeared and whispered from the booth: "3-1, in favor of Tbilisi." Delighted, Sotkilava came to the fore, finding himself almost nose to nose with Ozerov, and right between the musical phrases he managed to whisper: “Three - one, in favor of ours!”
Literally on the eve of his death, Nikolai Nikolayevich came to the Bolshoi to listen to a friend in the Masquerade Ball. “I’ll die anyway, so at least I’ll see you,” the famous commentator explained. Both of them were selflessly devoted to art and sports.
The name of the singer is known today to all lovers of opera both in our country and abroad, where he tours with constant success. They are captivated by the beauty and power of the voice, the noble manner, high skill, and most importantly, the emotional dedication that accompanies each performance of the artist both on the theater stage and on the concert stage.
Zurab Lavrentievich Sotkilava was born on March 12, 1937 in Sukhumi. “First, I should probably say about genes: my grandmother and mother played the guitar and sang great,” says Sotkilava. - I remember they sat on the street near the house, performed old Georgian songs, and I sang along with them. I did not think about any singing career either then or later. Interestingly, many years later, my father, who has no hearing at all, supported my operatic endeavors, and my mother, who has absolute pitch, was categorically against it.
And yet, in childhood, Zurab's main love was not singing, but football. Over time, he showed good abilities. He got into the Sukhumi Dynamo, where at the age of 16 he was considered a rising star. Sotkilava played in the place of the wingback, he joined the attacks a lot and successfully, running a hundred meters in 11.1 seconds!
In 1956, Zurab became the captain of the Georgian national team at the age of 20. Two years later, he got into the main team of Dynamo Tbilisi. The most memorable for Sotkilava was the game with Dynamo Moscow.
“I am proud that I took the field against Lev Yashin himself,” recalls Sotkilava. - We got to know Lev Ivanovich better, already when I was a singer and was friends with Nikolai Nikolaevich Ozerov. Together we went to Yashin to the hospital after the operation ... On the example of the great goalkeeper, I was once again convinced that the more a person has achieved in life, the more modest he is. And we lost that match with a score of 1:3.
By the way, this was my last game for Dynamo. In one of the interviews, I said that the forward of the Muscovites Urin made me a singer, and many people thought that he had crippled me. In no case! He just outright outplayed me. But it was half the trouble. Soon we flew to Yugoslavia, where I got a fracture and left the squad. In 1959 he tried to return. But the trip to Czechoslovakia finally put an end to my football career. There I received another serious injury, and after some time I was expelled ...
At 1958, when I was playing in Dynamo Tbilisi, I came home to Sukhumi for a week. Once, the pianist Valeria Razumovskaya, who always admired my voice and said who I would eventually become, dropped in on my parents. At that time I did not attach any importance to her words, but nevertheless I agreed to come to some visiting professor of the conservatory from Tbilisi for an audition. My voice didn't make much of an impression on him. And here, imagine, football again played a decisive role! At that time, Meskhi, Metreveli, Barkaya were already shining at Dynamo, and it was impossible to get a ticket to the stadium. So, at first, I became a supplier of tickets for the professor: he came to pick them up at the Dynamo base in Digomi. In gratitude, the professor invited me to his home, we began to study. And suddenly he tells me that in just a few lessons I have made great progress and I have an operatic future!
But even then, the prospect made me laugh. I seriously thought about singing only after I was expelled from Dynamo. The professor listened to me and said: "Well, stop getting dirty in the mud, let's do a clean job." And a year later, in July 1960, I first defended my diploma at the mining department of the Tbilisi Polytechnic Institute, and a day later I was already taking exams at the conservatory. And was accepted. By the way, we studied at the same time as Nadar Akhalkatsi, who preferred the Institute of Railway Transport. We had such battles in inter-institutional football tournaments that the stadium for 25 thousand spectators was packed!”
Sotkilava came to the Tbilisi Conservatory as a baritone, but soon Professor D.Ya. Andguladze corrected the mistake: of course, the new student has a magnificent lyric-dramatic tenor. In 1965, the young singer made his debut on the Tbilisi stage as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca. The success exceeded all expectations. Zurab performed at the Georgian State Opera and Ballet Theater from 1965 to 1974. The talent of a promising singer at home was sought to be supported and developed, and in 1966 Sotkilava was sent for an internship at the famous Milan theater La Scala.
There he trained with the best bel canto specialists. He worked tirelessly, and after all, his head could have been spinning after the words of maestro Genarro Barra, who then wrote: “Zurab’s young voice reminded me of the tenors of bygone times.” It was about the times of E. Caruso, B. Gigli and other sorcerers of the Italian scene.
In Italy, the singer improved for two years, after which he took part in the festival of young vocalists "Golden Orpheus". His performance was triumphant: Sotkilava won the main prize of the Bulgarian festival. Two years later - a new success, this time at one of the most important International competitions - named after P.I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow: Sotkilava was awarded the second prize.
After a new triumph, in 1970, - First Prize and Grand Prix at the F. Viñas International Vocal Competition in Barcelona - David Andguladze said: “Zurab Sotkilava is a gifted singer, very musical, his voice, of an unusually beautiful timbre, does not leaves the listener indifferent. The vocalist emotionally and vividly conveys the nature of the performed works, fully reveals the composer's intention. And the most remarkable feature of his character is diligence, the desire to comprehend all the secrets of art. He studies every day, we have almost the same "schedule of lessons" as in his student years.
“At first glance,” he recalls, “it might seem that I quickly got used to Moscow and easily entered the Bolshoi Opera team. But it's not. At first it was difficult for me, and many thanks to the people who were next to me at that time. And Sotkilava names the director G. Pankov, the concertmaster L. Mogilevskaya and, of course, his partners in performances.
The premiere of Verdi's Otello at the Bolshoi Theater was a notable event, and Sotkilava's Otello was a revelation.
“Working on the part of Othello,” Sotkilava said, “opened up new horizons for me, forced me to reconsider much of what had been done, gave birth to other creative criteria. The role of Othello is that peak from which it is clearly visible, although it is difficult to reach it. Now, when there is no human depth, psychological complexity in this or that image offered by the score, it is not so interesting to me. What is the artist's happiness? Waste yourself, your nerves, spend on wear and tear, not thinking about the next performance. But work should make you want to waste yourself like that, for this you need big tasks that are interesting to solve ... "
Another outstanding achievement of the artist was the role of Turiddu in Mascagni's Rural Honor. First on the concert stage, then at the Bolshoi Theater, Sotkilava achieved tremendous power of figurative expressiveness. Commenting on this work of his, the singer emphasizes: “Country Honor” is a verist opera, an opera of high intensity of passions. It is possible to convey this in a concert performance, which, of course, should not be reduced to abstract music-making from a book with musical notation. The main thing is to take care of gaining inner freedom, which is so necessary for the artist both on the opera stage and on the concert stage. In the music of Mascagni, in his opera ensembles, there are multiple repetitions of the same intonations. And here it is very important for the performer to remember the danger of monotony. Repeating, for example, one and the same word, you need to find the undercurrent of musical thought, coloring, shading the various semantic meanings of this word. There is no need to artificially inflate yourself and it is not known what to play. The pathetic intensity of passion in Rural Honor must be pure and sincere.”
The strength of Zurab Sotkilava's art is that it always brings people sincere purity of feeling. This is the secret of his continued success. The singer's foreign tours were no exception.
"One of the most brilliantly beautiful voices that exists anywhere today." This is how the reviewer responded to the performance of Zurab Sotkilava at the Champs-Elysées Theater in Paris. This was the beginning of the foreign tour of the wonderful Soviet singer. Following the “shock of discovery”, new triumphs followed - a brilliant success in the USA and then in Italy, in Milan. The ratings of the American press were also enthusiastic: “A large voice of excellent evenness and beauty in all registers. The artistry of Sotkilava comes directly from the heart.”
The 1978 tour made the singer a world-famous celebrity - numerous invitations to participate in performances, in concerts, in recordings followed ...
In 1979, his artistic merits were awarded the highest award - the title of People's Artist of the USSR.
“Zurab Sotkilava is the owner of a tenor of rare beauty, bright, sonorous, with brilliant upper notes and a strong middle register,” writes S. Savanko. - Voices of this magnitude are rare. Excellent natural data were developed and strengthened by the professional school, which the singer passed in his homeland and in Milan. Sotkilava's performing style is dominated by signs of classical Italian bel canto, which is especially felt in the singer's opera activity. The core of his stage repertoire is lyrical and dramatic roles: Othello, Radamès (Aida), Manrico (Il trovatore), Richard (Un ballo in maschera), José (Carmen), Cavaradossi (Tosca). He also sings Vaudemont in Tchaikovsky's Iolanthe, as well as in Georgian operas - Abesalom in the Tbilisi Opera House's performance Abesalom and Eteri by Z. Paliashvili and Arzakan in O. Taktakishvili's Abduction of the Moon. Sotkilava subtly feels the specifics of each part, it is no coincidence that the breadth of the stylistic range inherent in the art of the singer was noted in critical responses.
“Sotkilava is a classic hero-lover of the Italian opera,” says E. Dorozhkin. - All "J." - obviously him: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini. However, there is one significant "but". Of the entire set necessary for the image of a womanizer, Sotkilava fully possesses, as the enthusiastic Russian president rightly noted in his message to the hero of the day, only "an amazingly beautiful voice" and "natural artistry." In order to enjoy the same love of the public as Georgesand's Andzoletto (namely, this kind of love surrounds the singer now), these qualities are not enough. Wise Sotkilava, however, did not seek to acquire others. He took not by number, but by skill. Completely ignoring the light disapproving whisper of the hall, he sang Manrico, the Duke and Radamès. This, perhaps, is the only thing in which he was and remains a Georgian - to do his job, no matter what, not for a second doubting his own merits.
The last stage bastion that Sotkilava took was Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. The impostor - the most Russian of all the Russian characters in Russian opera - Sotkilava sang in such a way that the blue-eyed blond singers, who fiercely followed what was happening from the dusty wings, never dreamed of singing. The absolute Timoshka came out - and in fact, Grishka Otrepyev was Timoshka.
Sotkilava is a secular person. And secular in the best sense of the word. Unlike many of his colleagues in the artistic workshop, the singer dignifies with the presence not only those events that are inevitably followed by a plentiful buffet table, but also those that are intended for true connoisseurs of beauty. Sotkilava earns money on a jar of olives with anchovies himself. And the singer's wife also cooks wonderfully.
Sotkilava performs, although not often, on the concert stage. Here his repertoire consists mainly of Russian and Italian music. At the same time, the singer tends to focus specifically on the chamber repertoire, on romance lyrics, relatively rarely turning to concert performances of opera excerpts, which is quite common in vocal programs. Plastic relief, bulge of dramatic solutions are combined in Sotkilava's interpretation with special intimacy, lyrical warmth and softness, which are rare in a singer with such a large-scale voice.
Since 1987, Sotkilava has been teaching solo singing at the Moscow State P.I. Tchaikovsky. But, undoubtedly, the singer himself will also give the listeners many pleasant minutes.
ზურაბ სოტკილა&
March 12, 1937, Sukhumi, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, USSR - September 18, 2017, Moscow, Russia
Soviet Georgian and Russian opera singer (lyric-dramatic tenor), theater teacher, athlete (football player)
Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR (1970).
People's Artist of the Georgian SSR (1973).
People's Artist of the USSR (1979).
Since childhood, he was fond of music (he studied at a music school in violin and piano) and sports - football (he played in the school team, then in the Sukhumi club).
Graduated from the Tbilisi Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Mine Surveying Engineer. At the same time, he played in Tbilisi Dynamo (Sukhumi) (1951-1955), Dynamo (Tbilisi) (1955-1959), and also took vocal lessons from Professor N.V. Bokuchava. Then - study at the Tbilisi Conservatory in the class of Professor D.Ya. Andguladze. After graduating from the conservatory in 1965, he became a soloist at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre. Z.Paliashvili.
In 1966-68, he trained at La Scala with maestro J. Barra and E. Piazza.
The singer's debut took place on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in the role of Jose in Bizet's Carmen in 1973. Since 1974 he has been a soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre.
In the spring of 1980, Sotkilava was invited to sing the part of Othello in a new production directed by Vittorio de Vita.
The Academy of Music of Bologna elected Zurab Sotkilava "for his brilliant interpretation of Verdi's works" as its honorary member. Then there were "Aida", "Tosca", "Khovanshchina" - throughout the north of Italy. Also sang "Messa Solenne" in Rome, Perugia.
He was a professor at the Moscow State Conservatory. Tchaikovsky.
theatrical work
Richard (Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi)
Manrico ("Troubadour" by G. Verdi)
Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca by G. Puccini)
Vaudemont (Iolanthe by P. Tchaikovsky)
Radamès (Aida by G. Verdi)
Indian guest (Sadko by N. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Arzakan (The Abduction of the Moon by O. Taktakishvili) - first performer
Otello (Otello by G. Verdi)
Jose ("Carmen")
Turiddu (Country Honor by P. Mascagni)
Baron Calloandro ("The Beautiful Miller's Woman" by G. Paisiello) - the first performer at the Bolshoi Theater
Pretender (Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky)
Golitsyn ("Khovanshchina" by M. Mussorgsky)
Ishmael (Nabucco by G. Verdi)
prizes and awards
I prize and gold medal, the main prize "Golden Orpheus" at the international competition in Sofia (1968).
2nd Prize and Silver Medal at the 4th International Tchaikovsky Competition Tchaikovsky (1970).
1st Prize at the International Competition Francisco Viñas in Barcelona (1970).
State Prize of the Georgian SSR. Z. Paliashvili (1983).
Shota Rustaveli State Prize of the Republic of Georgia (1998)
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (March 22, 2001).
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" III degree (December 3, 2007).
Order of the Badge of Honor (1971).
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1976).
Ovation Award (2008).
Honorary diploma of the President of the Russian Federation (October 27, 2012).
Honorary member of the Bologna Academy of Music (Italy) - elected "for a brilliant interpretation of Verdi's works."
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree (2017)
Three Orders of Honor (Georgia, 1997, 2007, 2016)
“My mother made me study music. And in a very brutal way. You could say it's forcible. She adored classical music, she herself, like her grandmother, sang beautifully and played the guitar, she dreamed of introducing me to this art. But I categorically refused to go to a music school;
unshakable conviction: male musicians are some kind of freaks, something abnormal is inherent in them by nature. Football players are another matter - these are real men! And when music teachers said: “You must continue to study, a great future awaits you in singing,” I laughed: “What nonsense! I will do only one thing - to play football. And although fate did not quite decide so, nevertheless, in some incomprehensible way, football played a decisive role in almost all the cases in which I was engaged. Including music by the way...
In Sukhumi, where we lived, there was a huge meadow in front of our house, and on it the guys and I played the ball all summer. Coaches did not even have to strain to find promising athletes. They just came there, watched our game and pointed the finger: “You will play for the sports school, and you for the Sukhumi national team ...” Just like that, when I was about twelve, they approached me. And two years later I was a member of the youth team of Abkhazia, and soon I was already playing in the championship. And at the age of 19 he was transferred to the main team of Dynamo Tbilisi. Until now, of all the achievements of my life, I am most proud of the fact that in 1956, when I was the captain of the youth team of Georgia, we became the champions of the Soviet Union.
My mother dragged me to the music school at the age of 13. Since children began to study in the piano class from the age of six, she was offered to send me to the cello. She gladly agreed, but I flatly refused: "I will not carry this coffin for anything." Then my mother's acquaintance, the head of the vocal department, said: “Let me take him to my class. He will go to the common piano, and learn to play it. Mother was ready for any option. Having met this teacher six months later, she asked: “Well, how is my son doing?” To which he honestly replied: “Ksenia Vissarionovna, don’t be upset, but I saw Zuriko only once - he didn’t appear again.” Mom wasn't upset. She got angry, how!
I was already playing for the national team of Abkhazia then. And we were just given amazing Hungarian boots, which for me was a great happiness. I cherished them so much, so shore! I kept it under my pillow. And when they got caught in the rain, he washed them, cleaned them, after which he certainly smeared them with butter - he didn’t eat it, he secretly hid it especially for this purpose. And on that ill-fated day, when I came home from school, I saw that my cherished boots had been cut with an axe. So my mother expressed her anger, took revenge on me. For the first time in my life, I cried so bitterly. It seemed to me that there could be no greater grief at all. (With a bitter smile.) It turned out, maybe. The second time I sobbed just as inconsolably was when my mother passed away.
She did not catch my success, she managed to watch only one of my performances, and even then the one that I failed. I then arrived after an internship from Italy, and I was supposed to make my debut in Tbilisi - in the opera Rigoletto. At this time, the 50th anniversary of Georgia was celebrated, and I had to attend the parade in honor of the anniversary - I was invited to stand on the podium along with the leaders of the republic. Since it was very frosty, I caught a bad cold, pneumonia began. But don't cancel the show! I sang two acts like nothing. And then the temperature rose, the throat intercepted, in short, there was a failure. At the end, all the acquaintances tried to avoid meeting me, and if they did meet me, they shyly hid their eyes, in a hurry to disappear faster. And only one mother said: “Son, you are the best anyway!”
Another time, it was in December 1973, I was called to sing "Carmen". And I said: "Mom, you will definitely go with me." She was happy, she made herself a beautiful dress especially for this trip. But life decreed otherwise. Hemorrhage in the brain and ... everything. Mom was gone. I buried her in this dress. She was very young - only 50 years old. Worked as a radiologist. And his father, Lavrenty Gutuevich, first taught history and was the director of the school, and during the war, on conscription, he served in the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he remained until retirement. Then he held the position of director of the Sukhumi hotel. Survived my mother by exactly one year. He was very tormented when he was left alone, his heart could not stand the separation. So dad also did not catch my operatic take-off. But just like my mother, I sincerely believed that I was the best.
And another person was unshakably convinced of this - Nikolai Nikolaevich Ozerov, our famous, unique sports commentator. He did not miss a single performance of mine, he usually sat in the front row or in the director's box, and no matter how I sang, he invariably repeated: "Zurab is the best!" Our friendship lasted a lifetime, until his death. Very often we went to football together. At the same time, they were rooting for different teams: he was for the Moscow Spartak, I was for the Tbilisi Dynamo. Sometimes my performance coincided with some important match, but Ozerov always preferred opera. Naturally, we were both interested in the result, and the one who was the first to recognize it immediately showed the other with signs.
Once I sang at the Bolshoi Theater, and this evening our favorite teams with Ozerov played in Tbilisi. I asked the prompter: "I beg you, find out what is happening at the stadium and tell me." He ran away, came back and showed me that the Tbilisi team was in the lead. I was so happy! And right there, performing his part in a duet with Lena Obraztsova, he changed the mise-en-scène, adjusted to the millimeter, and, unexpectedly for his partner, headed towards the box and began to signal to Nikolai Nikolayevich, telling him the score. He immediately understood everything, laughed, but I will never forget how bewildered Elena looked at me. Then she asked: “What happened to you?” - “Nothing,” I did not admit, “I just plunged deep into the image ...” After the death of Ozerov, I stopped going to football. Couldn't do without it.
Zurab Sotkilava and Eliso Turmanidze at the wedding ceremony (Tbilisi, July 17, 1965). Photo: From the personal archive of Zurab Sotkilava
There were only two bets played: life or death.
I only had a chance to play big football for three years. And then a misfortune happened - as a result of a collision with an opponent on the field, I received a serious spinal injury. The pains began to be terrible, and over time they
did not pass, but, on the contrary, intensified. Then all this moved to the hip joint. I was operated on and put on a prosthesis. Of course, I had to say goodbye to sports. Can you retell what I experienced when it became clear that I was being expelled from the team! As on wadded legs, he went to hand over his sports uniform. With what a stone in my heart I checked out of our hostel! I remember I went up to the podium, sat alone for a long, long time, thinking: “Well, that's all. There is no football in my life now. How will I live? And such anguish flooded. I was then a third-year student at the Mining Faculty of the Georgian Polytechnic Institute, but I could not even imagine that I would work as an engineer.
Although pre-graduation practice took place at a mine in the Donbass. I don’t know how they could entrust a clumsy boy with a gas meter instrument, which I had never held in my hands before and had never seen in my eyes! But I went down, as expected, into the depths of the mine and measured the amount of gas available there. And this must be known for sure, because an explosion can occur from an excess of gas in the mine.
In general, life in the mine is special. To understand it, one must feel it, feel it, as they say, live. For example, I liked to go to the landlords. Do you know what the essence of their work was? When lava flows and a layer of coal is ejected, a void remains, and in order for the mine not to collapse, special iron pedestals should be installed. So, when the coal miners left, the planters got down to business - strong men who cut out in the most dangerous places those pieces where these pedestals should stand. I admired them. Don't know if there is
in modern mines such a profession, but then it was. In fact, very courageous people who despise danger were engaged in it. Every day they took colossal risks easily, with jokes and laughter. But without ostentatious prowess, without bragging. On the contrary, calmly, confidently, extremely concentrated, checking every step to the millimeter, clearly agreeing on how many racks each of them will cut, in what sequence and who will run where a second before the roof collapses. After all, a little something is wrong, and everything is a collapse. A real lottery where only two bets are played - life or death. I had great prestige with them. Of course, not because of his achievements as a future mining engineer, but because he was a pro football player. We periodically got together in a nearby village and played.
Also, thanks to football, I entered the main path of my life - music. I always sang, and my voice was natural, and therefore at endless school evenings, city concerts, Komsomol conferences, I was often put forward on stage. The performances were a success. But in the 11th grade, when I was already playing football at the Georgian championship, I was desperately tired of all this and I stopped singing.
Once, during a break between matches, I drove home to Sukhumi. Once, Valeria Viktorovna Razumovskaya, a pianist, accompanist of my teacher at a music school, came to visit her parents, who always believed in my musical future. And she said that a professor from the Tbilisi Conservatory, Nikolai Varlamovich Boguchava, had just arrived in Sukhumi to rest. “Come on,” she suggested, “I will arrange for him to listen to you.” Of course, I began to refuse, but she showed enviable persistence and still persuaded me. We are going. I did not make any impression on the maestro, but when he learned that I was a football player, he became very animated. Because I had the opportunity to get tickets to the stadium in Tbilisi, where in those years not only Soviet teams came, but also Brazilian and English clubs. Then Boguchava came to my hostel, and I gave him scarce tickets for matches.
Once he invited me to his home, where his students gathered. After listening to them, I quite sincerely exclaimed: “God, how great they sing!” And then he says: "Let's work with you." And I suddenly agreed. I don't know why. Most likely, the main reason lay in his daughter - a wonderful girl, whom I immediately fell for.
For four months, the professor and I studied, then I left to work at that very mine, then I wrote a diploma, after which our studies continued. And he said: “You can achieve a lot in singing - we will act
to the conservatory. I burst out laughing: “What are you talking about, I don’t want to, and I can’t!” and went to defend the thesis. But ... two days later I was already passing the vocal exam at the conservatory. And the diploma, as you know, is supposed to be washed, and my classmates and I observed this tradition perfectly well. How I managed to sing on July 12, 1960 in front of a representative examination committee, I still have no idea. However, the rector, the most intelligent, most educated person, went up to the stage to me, hugged me and said: “You were sent to us by God. Just say one thing: do you know what solfeggio is? I answered honestly, "No." What kind of solfeggio if I came literally from the football field?! But still, they enrolled me.
I felt lost...
And here is my first day at the conservatory. I am a first year student. Before the start of classes, I met a friend, a senior student. We stand with him at the entrance, we talk. I see a girl walking towards me. Beautiful, slim, elegantly dressed. I look at her, as if hypnotized, I ask: "Who is this?" He replies, "Second year student, pianist." And I feel like I'm lost. And suddenly I blurt out: “Remember: she will be my wife!” (Laughing) By the way, that's what happened.
Soon everyone at the conservatory knew about my feelings for Eliso Turmanidze - I told everyone that I loved her. Protected in such a way from other applicants that not a single young man dared to approach her. And they, by the way, and strove to attract her attention. But to no avail - she was impregnable, proud. For two years I did not even dare to speak to her. Finally, she came up to me. First.
I sang at the exam - then not yet a tenor, but a baritone. And rumors reached Eliso that the young football player from Dynamo Tbilisi sings well, and she decided to see for herself. Came to. After graduation, she came up to me and praised: “You performed very well.” And she gave me candy. After this incident, we started dating - we went together to cafes, theaters, exhibitions, just walked. When my future wife first brought me to her home, there was an embarrassment. The fact is that Eliso is of princely blood, from an ancient family. Her aunt's surname is Bagrationi. So, this same aunt for some reason, when meeting me, began to somehow distort my last name. Once she pronounced it wrong, another ... After the third, I could not resist: "Remember: I will make my ordinary Megrelian surname become more famous than yours." Got up and left. After that, as I found out later, the aunt said to her niece: “Well, you found an impudent young man!” But nothing, then this amazing woman fell in love with me with all her heart, became my fan.
Eliso and I agreed to get married when I was in my fifth year. But the teacher, Professor David Andguladze, categorically forbade me: “What kind of marriage can there be?! The child will appear, there will be a lot of trouble with him, and you will have a very difficult year, you must learn "Tosca". No, no and NO! Until you graduate from the conservatory, I do not allow you to start a family!” I did not dare to argue and had to agree to such a harsh condition. We had to postpone the wedding, but this did not change anything in our relationship with Eliso.
So, I know, many people are constantly busy looking for ways to relax, recuperate. And I don't have to search. I do this in my family. For me, my wife, children, grandchildren are the best restorers. Eliso and I have two daughters, four years apart in age. Both graduated. The eldest, Thea, when she was already sent from doctoral studies to a Spanish university, met her future husband in Madrid. Paco is a doctor and we just adore him. At first, the wife was worried that she would not be able to speak with her son-in-law either in his or in her native language. I understand Spanish, but Eliso does not, so I suffered. But they got used to it. My daughter translates, and Paco began to study Russian. When he came to us to ask for Thea’s hand in marriage, I said menacingly: “Okay, I will agree to your marriage, but only on the condition that the child must bear the surname Sotkilava!” And he answered quite calmly: “Please, let Sotkilava be there. You can leave your wife's surname." It was very funny. It is customary for them to write down at least ten surnames for a child - both mother's and grandmother's, and all relatives, and the area where he was born and lived.
As a result, the daughter now bears a double surname: Alcover-Sotkilava. As is the granddaughter. The Spaniard son-in-law wanted her name to be Keti, Ketevan - just like our youngest daughter, who after graduating from the philological faculty worked for some time in various television programs, and now works in a Swiss company. She is also married - to a great opera singer. Shalva Mukeria is Georgian by origin, but a resident of Spain. Sometimes he comes to Russia, even performed here. In fact, he sings all over the world. Katie was nineteen years old when they met, and since then for 17 years he courted her, although for some reason she did not want to build a more serious relationship. But the guy got his way. Three years ago they had a son - Leo, Levanchik. My wife and I are incredibly happy that he lives with us. And we are happy that we have such a big and good family. And I often think: “How far-sighted I was when I decided more than half a century ago that this particular woman should become my wife.” I hope she did not regret her consent to the "misalliance" with me. And the promise to glorify my unremarkable Megrelian surname, it seems to me, I fulfilled. (Laughs.)
- Three years ago, our grandson, Levanchik, was born. My wife and I are incredibly happy that he lives with us. In general, we are happy because we have such a big and good family. Photo: Yuri Zaitsev
So I became both an alcoholic and a womanizer ...
In Soviet times, any trip abroad was equated with transcendental happiness. Becoming a singer, I got into the rank of celestials - I was sent to train in Italy, at the La Scala theater. And although the money was given $ 100 for a month, it was still a real success. (With a smile.) I remember waking up on the second day and feeling: my neck hurts wildly, I just can’t turn around. I think: "Why?" And then I realized: while walking, stunned, around the city, he turned his head so much, looking at these amazing shop windows, that he stretched his neck muscles. I lay, rubbed them and remembered how it happened that I was lucky to be among the elect.
In 1964, as a fifth-year student, I came from Tbilisi to Moscow to participate in a competition. After the performance, I was called to the selection committee, and the chief director of the Bolshoi Theater, Iosif Mikhailovich Tumanov, asked: “Do you want to go to study in Italy?” This question made me feel a little sick. Of course! A year later, I was summoned to the Minister of Culture of the Georgian SSR, the outstanding composer Otar Taktakishvili, and he showed me a telegram: “Prepare documents for sending Sotkilava to study in Italy. Furtseva. He warned: “I only beg: do not tell anyone. Even the wife." I understood why: envy was terrible. I remember running to the park, where there was no one in the evenings, and started yelling: “I'm going to Italy!” I had to shout it out - it was impossible to bear such a thing in myself.
And here I am in . Our trainees learn Italian at the school at La Scala, lessons three times a week. And I never went there. However, in the end, six months later, those who graduated from this school could only say “goodbye” in Italian, and I already chatted quite tolerably. Why? Thanks again to my football background. The owner of the hotel found out that I was a football player. And the locals had a tradition - on Saturdays to get together and play football for "bread and salt": whoever loses, he must set the table for everyone. And the owner of the hotel once suggested to me: "Come on and you will go with us, kick the ball." I agreed. And they played in such a way that among them I felt like a kindergarten teacher. Therefore, on the move, he scored so many goals for the opposing team that everyone gasped. And they attacked my acquaintance: “You deceived us! He said that the guy is a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater, an intern at La Scala, and he is a professional football player! So it was in subsequent times: when the team of my signor became tight, he again came to me with a request to support. I joined the game and we won with a resounding score. Gradually, our opponents got used to it, stopped being offended and simply enjoyed the game. Communicating in this way with these gentlemen, I began to chat in Italian. Which later gave me the opportunity to easily find contact with the great operatic Italians. We became friends with Luciano Pavarotti.
We met very funny. I performed in Bologna, sang Othello. After one of the performances, a stocky uncle comes to me. I think: probably some kind of chorister, and he says: “I want to introduce you to my son.”
I mumbled something obscurely polite. A day later, he comes back: “My son is coming on December 25th and will stay here for a week. I want to go to him with you.” I think: “Well, stuck!” - again evaded the answer. And now I’m standing with my friend near the theater, suddenly a car drives up, from which the same “choirboy” comes out and says to me: “Well, let’s go to meet my son.” I refuse: "No, sorry, I have no time." My friend asks in surprise: “Do you actually know who this is?” - “Yes, some chorister got attached,” I answer. - "What chorus?! It's Father Pavarotti!" My legs buckled. I deified Pavarotti! Of course, I immediately rushed to him. We met, he invited me to a restaurant. Sit down and drink. Then they met periodically. They walked especially notably when Luciano arrived in the Union.
He liked to drink, I also was not averse to such and such a company. Therefore, I will not hide, we got drunk with him more than once, and very thoroughly. They argued for various reasons. For example, I argued that we, in Georgia, have wines no worse than Italian ones. And he has vineyards growing around the house, and he made his own wine - lambrusco, such a fizz, delicious, really. He did not agree: “Come on, our wines are beyond competition ...” And then on his next visit
I treated Pavarotti to Georgian homemade wine. They just brought it to me from Tbilisi. The grapes from which it is made grow only on one mountain slope, and the harvest from it is no more than 500 liters. By chance, I happened to have five bottles of this delicious drink. I brought the wine to the hotel where Signor Luciano lived. Handed it to him. He casually took it and asked his wife: "Set the tables" - there were just five tables. She put. Pavarotti began to open. I opened it, sniffed it, and from there such-and-what aroma went! He tasted and immediately said: “Come on, take these bottles to our room!” Then he began to beg me to send him seedlings. I explained, “These grapes will not grow anywhere else. This wine is obtained only in one place - there the sun falls on the slope at a certain angle and the humidity of the air is somehow special. He nearly burst into tears in frustration.
Still, I've been very lucky in my life. I got the opportunity to travel around the world in my youth. Of course, then, on the first Italian trip, we were not completely left to ourselves. Once a month, representatives from the competent authorities came and found out about our life. We asked the hotel and theater staff about what we do, with whom we communicate, how we behave. Checked thoroughly. Especially me...
With daughters - Katie and Thea (2002). Photo: From the personal archive of Zurab Sotkilava
The fact is that shortly before my departure for Italy, a curious story happened. I was suddenly summoned to the Sixth Department of the Central Committee of the Party - it was the ideological department. I come to the Old Square. A middle-aged man sits in the office, invites me to sit down. We chatted with him about football, about this and that. And then he suddenly turns the conversation in a different direction: “You are going to Italy, but do you know that wine is cheaper there than water? So here's my advice to you: try to somehow control yourself without leaving the room, or something, drink. I say: “Okay, I’m not particularly fond of it.” He laughs, “Of course. Yes, by the way, - he continues, - and in terms of women the same. You are greedy for this business, and there they can easily provoke anything. In general, I ask you to endure a few months, so as not to remain restricted to travel abroad for the rest of your life. I walked out of there absolutely dumbfounded. To hear such things in the Central Committee of the Party?! The reason for this, to put it mildly, a strange conversation, I understood only after returning from the internship.
My partner, the wonderful singer Tsisana Tatishvili, showed me a letter signed with her name and addressed to the Party Central Committee. I read it and I felt sick. It was written about me so-and-so! Just a stream of mud poured out on me. And I am a drunken alcoholic, and a womanizer who has slept with everyone in the world indiscriminately, and a voiceless singer who crawled onto the opera stage only because someone is dragging me. Such a dirty trick that, after reading, I wanted only one thing - to wash my hands. This vile message came to the indicated address, but from there it was forwarded to the Ministry of Culture of Georgia with a summary: "Deal with it yourself." Tsisana, as the "author", was immediately summoned to the right place. When she got acquainted with what was written, she was so horrified that she even lost consciousness. She fainted right in the office.
But I never found out later who wrote that disgusting libel. My teacher, with whom I then shared my desire to find the scoundrel and punish him, told me: “Zurab, son, you are now in such a state that if someone looks at you unkindly or it just seems to you, you will think that you the same person wrote the crap. But you can't live like that. Throw everything out of your head. Forget. There was no letter, and that's all! I thought about it and realized: this is wise advice. And followed him.
Then in my life there were more anonymous ones. Let's say this content: "Come on, you, katso, leave for your Georgia and sing your Keto and Kote there, and if you don’t leave, we will take you out of the theater feet first." It was sent directly to the theater, and this time I guessed who exactly could do this. Waiting for an opportunity, I put the letter to that person in his folder. He then tried to avoid me. Once I told my friend Volodya Atlantov that four anonymous letters had been written on me, so he laughed: “So what, for a whole life! I get four out a month ... ”And after Volodya’s words, I somehow calmed down. I thought: it seems that such a fate is destined for all successful people. Since they are trying to crush them psychologically, they dream of lime, therefore, they envy, they are afraid of competition. That is, they simply recognize success. (With a smile.) Which in itself is wonderful.
Family: wife - Eliso Turmanidze, pianist; daughters - Thea (46 years old) and Keti (42 years old); grandchildren - Keti (6 years old) and Levan (3 years old)
Education: graduated from the Georgian Polytechnic Institute, the Tbilisi Conservatory. Sarajishvili
Career: captain of the youth football team of Georgia, member of the main staff of the Tbilisi Dynamo, soloist of the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theater. Paliashvili, lifelong soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre, professor at the Moscow Conservatory, honorary member of the Bologna Academy of Music, winner of many domestic and international prizes and awards
