Anita Rachvelishvili (, ra-tch—veli-shvili, born Tbilisi 1984) is a Georgian operatic mezzo-soprano. She is especially known for singing Verdi; conductor Riccardo Muti said in 2018: "She is without doubt the best Verdi mezzo-soprano today on the planet. Without. Doubt." She is also well known for singing Bizet's Carmen. Opera News magazine has stated that "Rachvelishvili is a unique dramatic presence. Her dark, smoldering eyes and cascading black curls are striking, but what is unusual is the juxtaposition of fiery surface and an inward-focused quality, seeming to draw power from some secret space." Earlier in her career she became the youngest singer ever to open a season at La Scala. A New York Times portrayal in late 2018 said that she had achieved the highest echelon of her profession during that year. American critic Alex Ross has said of her abilities: "The [opera house] should let her do whatever she wants: artists of this calibre are the reason opera exists." Early life Rachvelishvili grew up in Tbilisi in what was then the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Her mother did folk dance and ballet, her father was a composer and bass guitarist, and both did some singing. Young Anita grew up in difficult circumstances in the wake of the breakup of the Soviet Union, including some civil wars: "no electricity, no water, no food, nothing." She is fluent in Georgian, English, and several other languages. As a girl she studied piano and for a time was at the Mukhran Machavariani School. Her musical tastes started with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Whitesnake. She then enjoyed singing popular music on the order of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Her voice was such that friends and family convinced her to try operatic singing, and beginning at age 16 she began to study for same. Training and career Anita Rachvelishvili passed the entrance audition and entered the Tbilisi State Conservatoire where she trained as a singer under Manana Egadze. Financial support came in part from a stipend from the president's office Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia. She made her debut at the Georgian National Opera Theater as Maddalena in Rigoletto while still a student. She won the Paata Burchuladze Prize in 2007. She went on to further study at the highly regarded young singers’ academy at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Attempts to find funding for this studying were fruitless and her