Anita Rachvelishvili was born in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. She at first studied piano at the Mukhran Machavariani School and then singing at the Vano-Sarajishvili Conservatory with Manana Egadze. She received a stipend from the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, and in 2007 won the Paata Burchuladze Prize. While still a student at the conservatory, she debuted at the Opera in Tblisi as Maddalena in Rigoletto and as Olga in Eugen Onegin, subsequently joining the ensemble of the theater in the fall of 2006. In 2007 she was invited to join the Accademia at the Teatro alla Scalla, it was there she was heard by Daniel Barenboim, who then invited her to star in the new production of Carmen which opened the ²⁰⁰⁹⁄₂₀₁₀ La Scala Season.

She became internationally known when on December 7th, 2009, the opening night of the La Scala season, she sang the title role in Carmen opposite Jonas Kaufmann as Don José, in a production staged by Emma Date and conducted by Daniel Barenboim. This performance, which was her first of any major role in the West and which was her debut in the role, was also televised all over the world.

She has since debuted as Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper München, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Seattle Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Regio in Turin, with the Canadian Opera Company, and at the Arena di Verona, as well as making a return in the role to the Teatro alla Scala.

Anita Rachvelishvili made her Netherlands debut when she sang her first Dalila in a concert performance of Samson et Dalila at the Concertgebouw. She has also been heard Dulcinée in Massenet’s Don Quichotte at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.

In the fall of 2011 Anita Rachvelishvili debuted at Carnegie Hall alongside Angela Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann as the Principessa di Bouillon in Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur. Other roles in her repertoire have also included Isabella in Rossinis L’Italiana in Algeri at the Scala, and the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and at the Festival de Peralada I.

Anita returned to the Staatsoper Berlin in as Lyubasha in the new production of Rimsky Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, staged by Dmitry Cherniakov and conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Performances for the ²⁰¹³⁄₂₀₁₄ season include appearing as the Konschakowna in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Borodin’s Prince Igor which was the first time the company had performed this work since 1917.

Anita also made her debut at the Teatro all’Opera di Roma as Carmen, and returned to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich in the same role. Earlier in the season, she sang as Carmen at the Staatsoper Berlin and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. She also returned to the Arena di Verona that season as Carmen and as Amneris in Aida.

The ²⁰¹⁴⁄₂₀₁₅ season began with a return to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Carmen. She also returned to the Teatro alla Scala for a new production of Aida led by Lorin Maazel. She returned to the Teatro alla Scala as Carmen, she sang as Amneris in Aida at the Rome Opera, and gave an extraordinary recital at the Mariinsky Theatre. Anita also performed Verdi Requiem at the Salzburg Easter Festival..

This season, her appearances include her return to Teatro alla Scala in performances of the Verdi Requiem, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in the title role of Carmen, the Dutch National Opera in the role of Marfa in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina and her debut with the Paris Opera as Amneris in Aida.

Engagements in future seasons include her Paris Opera debut as Amneris in “Aida”, “Samson et Dalila” in Berlin and Sao Paulo, and Azucena in “Il Trovatore” at Covent Garden.