Aida Garifullina: biography, personal life, children, husband, songs

Biography

The brilliant opera diva Aida Garifullina glorifies the Russian Federation and her hometown of Kazan at the world level, performing with the best opera singers in the world and touring Europe and America. The songs performed by the girl have a bewitching, magical sound, and the clips show the performer’s acting potential.

Opera singer Aida Garifullina

The artist’s stormy personal life is also well known to the public - she had a long affair with a tennis star, as a result of which Aida’s biography radically changed its direction. The soloist of the Vienna State Opera, Garifullina, enjoys life and career success, without forgetting her roots.

Childhood and youth

A girl was born in 1987. Aida is Tatar by nationality. Young age did not become an obstacle to the manifestation of creative potential - she began studying music at a professional level at the age of five. Aida’s family is creative; in particular, the singer’s mother is a famous choir conductor and a specialist in academic music. The girl’s father is a Kazan businessman. The man doesn't like publicity.

Aida Garifullina with her mother

Support from parents, relatives and friends was one of the factors that allowed little Aida to build a professional career. As a child, she tried herself in different styles and directions of vocals, performed romances, but it was opera that she fell in love with.

In her teens (she had barely turned 13), Aida began to participate and win in academic vocal competitions and festivals. She wins a grant, which was founded by the mayor of Kazan, Ilsur Raisovich Metshin, to support talented youth, and goes to study opera in Vienna.

About her ancestors and childhood

Aida Garifullina with her mother in her childhood.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidagarifullina/ Aida’s parents and grandparents are mentioned in a book written by the opera diva entitled “Food as a Song.” The Russian opera star said in the preface that she remembers her ancestors up to the fifth generation: “My family is the ancient Bikkineev family, whose representatives moved to Kazan at the very beginning of the 21st century,” a quote from the work. In the same book, Aida Garifullina included photos of her great-great-grandmothers and great-great-grandfathers, signing under the images: “Among them all were worthy people, clerks, intelligentsia, service people.” About her grandfather, in an interview on the Tatler resource, the young woman mentioned that he was the vice-rector of the Kazan Chemical-Technological University, and her grandmother, according to her, worked as the chief physician in a city hospital.

Parents of Aida Garifullina. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidagarifullina/

The future soloist of the Vienna State Opera and Honored Artist of Tatarstan was born in the city of Kazan, where she spent her childhood. Her father, Emil Damirovich Garifullin, is an entrepreneur, and her mother, Lyailya Ildarovna, is still actively involved in creative activities and is the director of the Sofia Gubaidulina Center for Contemporary Music. A conductor by training, Lyayla Garifullina taught students at home, and her little daughter was present at lessons almost from birth, listening to music. “I remember how, when I was three years old, I tried to sing Cherubino’s aria from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”; these attempts were even recorded on a tape recorder,” - a fragment from her own story about childhood.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidagarifullina/

At the age of four, the girl came to the Kazan Opera House for the first time, and the ballet performance made a stunning impression on her. “It was a real dream world! Even then, I no longer had any doubts about what I would do in life. Only the stage, only performances in front of the public - and it doesn’t matter what it will be, ballet or opera,” as Mrs. Garifullina said these days. The baby wanted to shine in front of the public, to be admired, and when her daughter turned five, her mother sent her to a music school. “It’s difficult for a child to decide what to do; the parents’ task is to notice his hobbies and direct them in the right direction. I am grateful to my dad and mom for teaching me to work from an early age! Music school, drawing, then at the age of six ballet school - the schedule was such that there was no time left for children’s games, but this employment predetermined my brilliant future,” from the singer’s stories about her early childhood.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidagarifullina/

Excellent grades at school, participation in music competitions, performance at the age of thirteen at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow - a beautiful and talented girl, as her parents were sure, would become a real “star” in the future. At school, teachers, as a rule, notice the student’s talent and try to help the creative person follow the right path, but in the case of Aida, unfortunately, this did not happen. That’s why she doesn’t like to remember her school years, but she openly talks when asked about the teachers’ attitude towards her: “I still don’t understand this, but at school they thought that singing interfered with my studies. I studied well, and perhaps I would have loved school, but this did not happen due to strong pressure from teachers.”

Music

Opera singer Aida has a set of qualities that together give a unique result. Garifullina is incredibly talented, hardworking, disciplined, and besides, the artist has a pleasant European appearance, average height (165 cm), a slender figure and a charming smile. She looks great on stage, and her soprano voice and mastery of performing the most complex arias allow Aida to perform with a wide repertoire. The list of Garifullina’s songs includes arias from operas by G. Verdi, G. Puccini, V.A. Mozart, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov and other authors.

Opera diva Aida Garifullina

In the summer of 2012, the girl sang at the Arenadi Verona festival, where she performed Juliet's aria from the opera Romeo and Juliet.

In 2013, Aida Garifullina won the First Prize at the international competition of opera singers of Placido Domingo “Operalia 2013”. After this, Aida gains worldwide fame, which was facilitated by a joint performance with Placido in China. In the same year, Aida became the chosen performer with whom Andrea Bocelli performed at a charity concert in Canada.

Aida Garifullina and Dmitry Hvorostovsky

A year later, the young artist receives an invitation to perform in the concert “Dmitry Hvorostovsky and Friends,” and since then the girl has not left Russian federal television channels. The performances follow one after another, culminating in the performance of a song that conquered the whole world: the artist sang “Olympic Waltz” with a children's choir at the anniversary concert of Igor Krutoy.

Garifullina is no stranger to working in tandem with Russian contemporary pop stars. In 2012, Aida’s joint track with the Russian-speaking rapper Timati became a participant in the Russian qualifying round of songs for the Eurovision Song Contest. Then the duo’s creative product was not chosen as the winner, as a result of which “Buranovsky Babushki” was sent to the international competition.

Aida Garifullina. Song "Tenderness"

Aida Garifullina and Dima Bilan participated together in the show “The Phantom of the Opera,” in which representatives of classical music and the world of pop vocals participated in pairs in a music competition. The tandem did not advance far; the couple received a lot of criticism for their inability to work together on stage.

Awards and titles

• Scholarship recipient of the Foundation Prize. F.I. Shalyapin “Best Voice of the Year” in the “Academic Vocal” nomination (2001).
• Laureate of the Vocal Competition named after. Muslim Magomayeva (2010).
• First prize at the international competition of opera singers Placido Domingo Operalia—2013
• Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan (2013)
• Certificate of Gratitude from the President of the Republic of Tatarstan (2013)
• Commemorative medal “XXVII World Summer Universiade 2013 in Kazan” (2013)
• Russian National Music Award (2015)

Personal life

In 2020, the singer admitted that she had a whirlwind romance with the world famous tennis player. Marat Safin and Aida hid their relationship for a year. After announcing their romantic relationship, the couple began posting many photos together on Instagram, publicly expressing their feelings at social events and emphasizing their love in every possible way.

Aida Garifullina and Marat Safin

When the artist began to appear in public places in lush summer sundresses, rumors spread that Garifullina was pregnant. Newspapers and magazines wrote that Marat and Aida were expecting a child, allegedly the singer was already in her sixth month. However, the suspicions were not confirmed at that time - the artist’s mother denied the possibility of pregnancy. Aida continued to work in Vienna, Marat - in Moscow, they constantly visited each other, but the couple did not plan to have children.

Aida Garifullina and Marat Safin

However, the lovers never got closer to the wedding. By the beginning of 2017, Safin and Garifullina broke up due to the fact that it was extremely difficult for them to maintain a long-distance relationship. But everyone agrees on one thing - they had a very beautiful romance, filled with romance and passion. Today Garifullina is free.

In February 2020, Aida shocked the public with the announcement that she had a six-month-old daughter, Olivia. It turned out that Aida was really pregnant, gave birth to a child and almost immediately began work. The child is currently traveling with his mother, this little family planning to settle in Paris.

Aida Garifullina has a daughter Olivia

Garifullina admits that she is now very happy, because she can record songs and albums, perform and give people her creativity, while being a happy new mother. As for who Olivia's second parent is, the opera diva does not say anything. The public attributed paternity to Marat Safin, but Garifullina did not confirm this. The famous tennis player has a child from another woman. It is known that Aida does not have a husband.

Garifullina hid her daughter from fans for a long time. Only at the end of 2017, the girl posted a photo on Instagram, in which Olivia was present. But baby Aida did not show her face. All you can see is that the girl is sitting next to her mother and chewing bread. Subscribers wrote a lot of positive comments under the photo.

Aida Garifullina in Kazan

The artist has repeatedly admitted that her career is closely connected with Kazan. Thanks to support from her “small homeland,” Garifullina received that starting push that is sometimes so necessary for beginning artists. Therefore, the singer is always happy to return to the capital of Tatarstan and help with her talent, taking an active part in the life of the city.

Aida became an ambassador for the 2013 World Summer Universiade and spoke at the opening and closing ceremonies. The girl regularly comes to Kazan to visit her family and friends living here. The warm relationship between Garifullina and the mayor of the city, Ilsur Metshin, leads to administrative support for cultural projects and musical concerts of the artist in Tatarstan.

Aida Garifullina

For her contribution to the development of the cultural heritage of the republic and for the glorification of Kazan on the world music arena, Aida received the title of Honored Artist of Tatarstan.

Interesting Facts

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidagarifullina/

1. Very little is known about her personal life, and even less so about her teenage hobbies. But Aida herself, in an interview, laughingly mentioned a funny incident from her school life: how her classmates gave her a “dark”, suspecting her of liking the most handsome boy in school.
2. When asked about her current life partner, she smiled and told journalist Alexei Tarkhanov: “Ah, una furtive lagrima,” which translated from Italian means: “A tear sparkled imperceptibly.” And she added: “It doesn’t sound very elegant in Russian, let’s put it this way: I’m single now. But I know that I am capable of love, and someday, I am sure, I will meet a person with whom I will become absolutely happy.”
3. Studying at the Higher School of Music in Nuremberg, according to her, was a difficult stage in her life: “It was a sharp departure from the usual comfort zone. I changed apartments several times - I was looking for a cheaper one. I worked part-time, tried to get a job as an usher at the Vienna Opera, worked as a baby-sitter,” from the preface to the book “Food as a Song.”
4. Maya Plisetskaya once told her: “You have a gorgeous ballet posture: it’s surprising why you didn’t become a ballerina!” But the artist could become one: it is known that as a girl she went to ballet school, but at the age of seven she fell unsuccessfully and received a back injury. A year of wearing a corset and the end of her dancing career predetermined her future: “But I began to engage more in music and singing!”
5. Victory at the Operalia competition: the audience had no idea that her performance during the competition was “on pure adrenaline,” as she admitted. The artist, coming down from the stage after another performance, twisted her ankle. “I sang, and at night I climbed onto the ceiling in pain,” this is how the singer talked about this incident.
6. The artist is actively involved in charity work: she constantly provides assistance in the construction of a hospice for children with cancer in Kazan, and contributes substantial sums to the Angela Vavilova Foundation. Aida Emilevna is also a member of the board of trustees of the Friends Foundation, whose chairman is Ivan Urgant.

Ivan Urgant and Aida Garifullina.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidagarifullina/ 5 / 5 ( 9 votes)

Aida Garifullina now

In February 2020, Aida released her first album entitled "Aida". For this collection, the singer was awarded the prestigious German ECHO Klassik 2020 award.

In the spring, the artist performed at the Parisian Opera Bastille in the premiere performance of “The Snow Maiden.” The performer delighted the audience with the main role staged by Dmitry Chernyakov. This opera has not been shown there for more than a hundred years.

Aida Garifullina as the Snow Maiden

With the same part, the artist can be seen on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater in Northern Palmyra at the Stars of the White Nights festival in the summer of 2020.

After Aida performed the role of the Shamakhan Queen in the opera The Golden Cockerel, the girl was nominated for a Grammy Award 2018.

On June 14, 2020, the opening of the FIFA World Cup took place in the Russian Federation. Aida Garifullina sang at the event in a duet with the famous British singer Robbie Williams. The creative union performed the composition Angels.

Aida Garifullina and Robbie Williams

The image for Garifullina, in which the artist appeared at Luzhniki, was created by Lebanese couturier Zuhair Murad. The girl wore a white dress decorated with Swarovski stones.

The Parisian public will be able to enjoy the beauty's voice at the Bastille Day concert on the Champ de Mars. Aida will be accompanied by Joyce Di Donato, Matthias Gerne and Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili.

After this, the artist will sing in Ludwigsburg with tenor Vittorio Grigolo.

Aida Garifullina starred in a Hollywood film with Meryl Streep

At the end of August, Aida will make her debut at the world's main opera festival in Salzburg. The girl will perform the role of Leila in the concert version of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.

At the beginning of 2020, the opera singer will appear on the stage of the world's main opera house, the Metropolitan Opera. The artist will sing Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

Dmitry Chernyakov plans to stage Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery with Aida at the Berlin Opera.

Biography[ | ]

Early years[ | ]

Born in 1987 in Kazan. Garifullin's father Emil Damirovich is a Russian entrepreneur. Mother, Laylya Ildarovna Garifullina, a choir conductor by profession, director of the Sofia Gubaidulina Center for Contemporary Music, Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan. From childhood, her mother instilled in her daughter a love of academic musical art and tried to professionally support her development as an opera singer[1].

At the age of 13, Aida performed at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Moscow) with the State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan, as part of the “Gifted Children of Tatarstan” program. A year later, she became a scholarship recipient of the F.I. Chaliapin Foundation “Best Voice of the Year” in the “Academic Vocal” nomination.

In 2005, Garifullina, having received a Grant from the Mayor of Kazan to study in Germany, entered the Higher School of Music in Nuremberg in the academic vocal class of the professor and rector of this school, tenor Siegfried Eruzalem. In the same year, she took part in the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Kazan, where she sang for a large audience, which included foreign delegations, as well as top Russian officials.

In 2007, she continued her vocal studies at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts in the class of Professor Claudia Viska.

In 2009, the University of Vienna staged Mozart’s opera “This Is What Everyone Do,” where Garifullina made her debut as Despina. In 2010, she took part in the First International Vocal Competition. Muslim Magomayeva in Moscow and became its laureate.

In August 2011, as an ambassador of the Universiade, she spoke at the Closing Ceremony of the XXVI World University Games in Shenzhen [2]. In November of the same year, at the S. Gubaidulina Center for Contemporary Music in Kazan, at a concert to celebrate Sofia Gubaidulina’s 80th birthday, Garifullina performed her early vocal cycle “Phacelia” in the presence of the author. Following this, a joint concert took place with Italian tenor Alessandro Safina in Kazan[3].

In 2012, Garifullina performed on stage at the Arena di Verona in Italy, where her first meeting with Placido Domingo took place. Performed “Je veux vivre” from Charles Gounod’s opera “Romeo and Juliet”. In the same year, at the opening of the Russian House at the XXX Summer Olympics in London, Garifullina met Valery Gergiev, artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. In January 2013, Garifullina, at the invitation of Gergiev, made her debut on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater in the role of Susanna in Mozart's buffa opera Le nozze di Figaro. Later, Aida’s repertoire included the roles of Gilda (“Rigoletto”) and Adina (“Elisir of Love”)[4].

In July 2013, as an ambassador of the Universiade, she performed the first song at the Opening Ceremony of the XXVII World Summer Universiade 2013 in Kazan[5]. She also performed at the closing of the Cultural Universiade with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev[6].

Personal life[ | ]

In 2016-2017, she was in a relationship with former tennis player Marat Safin. [ source not specified 707 days

]

Has a daughter, Olivia (born 2016). [ source not specified 707 days

]
MONACO 2019

"Operalia 2013" and further career[ | ]

In August 2013, Garifullina performed on the stage of the Arena di Verona as a contestant at Operalia 2013. She won the First Prize at the international competition of opera singers Placido Domingo “Operalia 2013”[7][8]. At the competition, arias of Nanette (Falstaff), Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden), Suzanne (The Marriage of Figaro), and Juliet (Bellini's Montagues and Capulets) were performed. The victory at Operalia was followed by a joint performance with Placido Domingo at a concert in Beijing.

On October 16, Garifullina was awarded the title “Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan”, and was also presented with a Certificate of Gratitude from the President of the Republic of Tatarstan[9].

On December 5, 2013, she sang in a duet with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli at the David Foster and Friends charity gala concert in Toronto[10]. On October 30, 2013, she performed at a charity concert of Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo at the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, performing Lauretta's aria and the duet of Germont and Violetta together with Domingo.

In March 2014, at the invitation of Dmitry Hvorostovsky, she performed in two concerts from the series “Hvorostovsky and Friends”[11].

Since the beginning of the 2014/2015 season she has been a soloist at the Vienna State Opera[12][13].

On February 12, 2020, she performed at the opening of the anniversary Vienna Opera Ball[14]. On May 22, a joint concert with Placido Domingo[15] took place in Kazan at the Tatneft Arena[16].

On June 9, Garifullina performed at the Arirang concert in Seoul, dedicated to peace between North and South Korea[17].

On July 15 and 16, she made her debut in the role of Natasha Rostova in the premiere of the Mariinsky Theater of Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace, directed by British director Graham Vick[18]. Premiere screenings of the play under the direction of Valery Gergiev were broadcast in cinemas in Europe[19].

In November 2020, Garifullina received Austrian citizenship. [20][21]

On June 14, 2020, she performed at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in Russia[22].

On July 15, 2020, she performed at the closing ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in Russia[23].

Parties

• G. Puccini - La Bohème, Musetta as
• G. Verdi - Un ballo in maschera, Oscar role
• G. Verdi - “Rigoletto”, as Gilda
• G. Verdi - Falstaff, Nanette
• G. Donizetti - “Don Pasquale”, part of Norina
• G. Donizetti – “Elisir of Love”, part of Adina
• W. A. ​​Mozart - “The Magic Flute”, Pamina part
• W. A. ​​Mozart - “That’s What Everybody Do”, Despina part
• W. A. ​​Mozart - “The Marriage of Figaro”, role of Susanna
• W. A. ​​Mozart - “Don Giovanni”, Zerlina part
• G. Rossini — “Italian in Algiers”, Elvira role
• F. Halevi - “The Jewess”, the role of Princess Eudoxia
• S. S. Prokofiev - “War and Peace”, part of Natasha Rostova
• N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov - “The Golden Cockerel”, part of the Shamakhan Queen
• N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov — “The Snow Maiden”, part of the Snow Maiden
• P. Eötvös — “Three Sisters”, Irina’s part