Zurab Lavrent'evich Sotkilava died of a serious long illness in Moscow. He was 80 years old.
This is a huge loss of Russia and the Bolshoi Theater, a great loss of Georgia, because he was the son of his people. According to his wish, the singer will be buried in Georgia.
He was born in 1937 in Sukhum. The family was far from the theater, his father and hearing was not. Is it possible to be far from singing, being a Georgian, the son of a people with the highest song traditions?.
Mother nature generously endowed the future singer. He was a talented player, he became an outstanding singer. He is remembered as a great storyteller, a good friend and a cheerful person. On the sports career of the rising star, the cross was placed two injuries. Sotkilava was not going to become a singer, he graduated from the mining-geological faculty of the Tbilisi Polytechnic Institute. At the show the teacher of the conservatory was insisted by the pianist Valery Razumovskaya, who accidentally came to the parents' parents. Then the young man did not make a proper impression on the visiting professor. But the professor was a fan of football, and Zurab Sotkilava, as an athlete, could get a ticket for any match. From this began their communication. After several sessions, the professor suddenly discovered that the young man is dramatically progressing and predicted a great future. The athlete himself did not take the forecast seriously, remembered about him when the sports career suddenly ended. Soon the young man became a student of the Tbilisi Conservatory. There, being a freshman, he saw a very beautiful girl, but to approach sophomore Eliso did not immediately decided. After five years of courtship, she still became his wife. The first and last, for life.
His creative career began in Tbilisi at the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theater. Paliashvili, then there was an internship in Milan, La Scala. His teacher Jenarro Barra wrote: "Zurab's young voice reminded me of the tenors of old times". Sotkilava reminded his teacher E. Caruso, B. Gigli. The singer with such a voice could decorate the stage of any theater in the world. But since 1973 his house has become the Bolshoi Theater. Even at the age of 75 the singer was in perfect vocal form, his schedule was painted for years ahead. He continued to give people the happiness of communicating with the beautiful.
In his heart he was still a cheerful and passionate person. He was proud of the fact that he once went out on the field with the lion Yashin, was friends with Nikolai Ozerov. And in a dream Zurab Lavrentevich sometimes saw himself on the field, scoring a goal.
His titles and awards can be listed for a very long time. People's Artist of the USSR, Professor Sotkilava was also a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory. Was engaged in concert activity. Since 2015, the singer has fought bravely with a serious ailment. After the course of treatment, he returned to the scene, but the terrible and inexorable disease was stronger. Near all the time were his dear women - his wife and two daughters - Thea and Keti. The singer's daughters became humanists, but Kate's husband is a well-known opera singer in Georgia.
Perhaps in the footsteps of his father and the famous grandfather, grandson Levan.
And now with a wonderful dramatic tenor Zurab Sotkilava, the world is saying goodbye. All those who knew him, or just heard, are bitterly told about the irreparable loss. Condolences to the singer's relatives and friends were expressed by President Vladimir Putin. Zurab Sotkilava. September 20 at the Bolshoi Theater will be a farewell ceremony with a great artist and a wonderful person. Then the body of the singer will be taken to Tbilisi for burial.