Career Highlights

Zaza Gagua is a Georgian bass and, since 2024, a member of the ensemble at Staatstheater Darmstadt.

Born in Tbilisi, he originally graduated with two degrees from Tbilisi State University's Faculty of Law before turning to a career in singing. He studied at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, spent an exchange year at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and completed his master's degree at the Stockholm Opera Academy in 2019.

In the 2026/27 season, Zaza Gagua sings Sarastro (*Die Zauberflöte*), Seneca (*L'incoronazione di Poppea*), Swallow (*Peter Grimes*), First Nazarene and Second Soldier (*Salome*), and Schmidt (*Andrea Chénier*), and performs Verdi's Requiem 2027 in Scandinavia .

His performed roles include Sparafucile (*Rigoletto*), Il Re/Ramfis (*Aida*), Tom (*Un ballo in maschera*), Colline (*La Bohème*), King Marke (*Tristan und Isolde*), Gremin (*Eugene Onegin*), Masetto and Commendatore (*Don Giovanni*), Zuniga (*Carmen*), and Seneca (*L'incoronazione di Poppea*), among others. He made his stage debut as Oroveso in Bellini's Norma.

Alongside his position at Staatstheater Darmstadt, Zaza Gagua has performed at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo (as a member of the Young Artists Programme), Opera Rogaland, Den Jyske Opera, Opéra national du Capitole, the Immling Festival, Opera på Skäret, Operafabriken, and Tbilisi State Opera.

An experienced concert and lieder singer, he has sung the bass solo in Verdi's and Mozart's Requiems with the Jönköping Sinfonietta, the Faroese Symphony Orchestra, and the Stockholm Chamber Choir, and has appeared as soloist with the Stockholm Concert Orchestra.

Zaza Gagua is the winner of three singing competitions, including first prize at the Lado Ataneli International Singing Competition (2015) and first prize for solo singing at the VII Tbilisi International Competition for Musician-Performers (2019), as well as a silver medal at the Manhattan International Music Competition (2019). He has also reached the final rounds of the Christina Schymberg Award, the Wilhelm Stenhammar Competition, and the Opera Crown Competitions.