Tsisana Tatishvili

Georgian lyric-dramatic soprano Tsisana Tatishvili was born on 30 December 1937 in Tbilisi, where she studied at the Conservatoire and began her career as a soloist with Tbilisi State Opera (now Georgian State Opera) in 1963.

She had a particularly full range, flexible voice and made a name as one of the world's best performers of the title role in Richard Strauss' Salome. Her other roles included Aida, Desdemona in Otello, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Liza in The Queen of Spades, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana and Tatiana in Eugene Onegin.

She sang internationally on opera stages throughout Europe, and won a series of awards.

Tsisana Tatishvili died on 23 September 2017, aged seventy-nine.