Aida Garifullina Russian Singer Born 1987 in Kazan

Early life

Aida Garifullina was born on 30 September 1987 in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, into a Tatar family. Her mother, a choir conductor, shaped her early musical development. At eighteen she moved to Nuremberg, Germany, to study music, and in 2007 she enrolled at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where she worked with the American soprano Claudia Visca for two years. Her stage debut came in 2009, in the university's production of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, in which she sang Despina.

Career

Garifullina is a lyric soprano. In 2010 she won a singing competition named for Muslim Magomayev in Moscow, and after graduating in 2011 she appeared at the closing ceremony of the Summer Universiade in Shenzhen and sang a duet with Alessandro Safina in Kazan. In 2012 she performed at the opening of the Russian House during the London Olympic Games, where she met Valery Gergiev, artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.

In January 2013 she debuted at the Mariinsky in the role of Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Gilda in Rigoletto and Adina in L'elisir d'amore were soon added to her repertoire. That July, as an ambassador of the Universiade, she sang at the opening ceremony of the Summer Universiade in Kazan, and she also took part in the closing event of its cultural programme with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Gergiev.

Her career gained momentum later in 2013, when she won first prize at the Operalia competition. In 2013 and 2014 she appeared in prominent concerts alongside singers such as Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and in 2014 she took part in the Rosenblatt Recitals at Wigmore Hall in London. She signed with Decca Records in 2015, and in February 2017 the label released a self-titled album of fifteen arias recorded with the ORF Radio-Symphony Orchestra under Cornelius Meister.

From the 2014-15 season she has been an ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera. On screen, she portrayed the soprano Lily Pons in the 2016 film Florence Foster Jenkins, singing the "Bell Song" from Delibes's Lakme. Her stage repertoire also includes Pamina in The Magic Flute, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Mimi and Musetta in La boheme, Violetta in La traviata, Juliette in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, and the title role in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden.

In June 2018 she took part in events surrounding the FIFA World Cup in Moscow. On 13 June she sang at the opening gala concert on Red Square with Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Florez and Placido Domingo, accompanied by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra. The next day, at the opening ceremony at the Luzhniki Stadium, she performed the song "Angels" as a duet with Robbie Williams.

Recognition

Garifullina was named a Merited Stage Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan, and in 2020 she received the title of Merited Artist of Russia. She was recognised as Best Female Vocalist in Classical Music at the Russian National Music Awards in 2015, and the Operalia win in 2013 is regarded as the major turning point in her career.

Personal life

Garifullina is married to the singer Alexey Vorobyov. In September 2025 the two co-hosted the Intervision song contest at the Live Arena near Moscow. Her listed favourite opera soprano is Anna Moffo.