Lamara Chkoniia

Born Dec. 27,1930, in Batumi. Soviet Georgian singer (lyric-coloratura soprano). People’s Artist of the USSR (1976). Member of the CPSU since 1974.

Chkoniia graduated from the Tbilisi Conservatory in 1956, where she studied voice under V. S. Kashakashvili and G. M. Gogichadze. From 1956 to 1960 and since 1968 she has been a soloist at the Georgian Theater of Opera and Ballet; from 1960 to 1968 she was a soloist at the Ukrainian Theater of Opera and Ballet.

Chkoniia possesses a voice of delicate silvery timbre, as well as extraordinary musicality and impeccable technique. Her roles have included Marfa in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, Ta-t’iana and Iolanthe in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Iolanthe, the title roles in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Massenet’s Manon, Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and Maro and Eteri in Z. Paliashvili’s Daisi and Abesalom and Eteri.

Chkoniia was a prizewinner at the Young Opera Singers’ Competition in Sofia in 1963 and at the Glinka All-Union Vocalists Competition in Moscow in 1960. She gives recitals in addition to her theater performances. Chkoniia has been awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor and several medals.