Early career Aida Garifullina was born in 1987 in a
Tatar family in
Kazan, the capital of the
Republic of Tatarstan. Her father is Emil Damirovich Garifullin, and her mother is Layla Ildarovna Garifullina (a choir conductor), who is currently the Director of the Centre of Contemporary Music, n.a. Sofia Gubaidulina. From her early childhood Garifullina's musical development was influenced by her mother, who was instrumental in the development of her career. At the age of 18, Garifullina moved to
Nuremberg, Germany to study music. In 2007, she joined the
Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts under Claudia Visca. Two years later Garifullina made her debut as Despina in the university production of Mozart's
Così fan tutte. In 2010, she won the
Muslim Magomayev's competition of singers in
Moscow. After graduating in 2011, she performed during the closing ceremony of the
XXVI Summer Universiade in
Shenzhen, and sang a duet with
Alessandro Safina in Kazan. In 2012, Garifullina sang at the opening of the Russian House at the
XXX Summer Olympics in
London. In London, she became acquainted with
Valery Gergiev, the artistic director of the
Mariinsky Theatre in
St. Petersburg. In January 2013, she made her debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in the role of Susanna in Mozart's
The Marriage of Figaro. She later added to her repertoire the roles of Gilda (
Rigoletto) and Adina (''
L'elisir d'amore''). In July, as the Ambassador of the Universiade, she sang at the opening Ceremony of
Summer Universiade 2013 in Kazan. She also performed at the closing ceremony of "Cultural Universiade" with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra. The performance was conducted by
Valery Gergiev.
Operalia 2013 and subsequent career Garifullina's career received a significant boost when she won first prize in
Operalia 2013. At the contest, there were arias of Nanetta (
Falstaff), Snow Maiden (
The Snow Maiden), Susanna (
Le nozze di Figaro), and Giulietta (
I Capuleti e i Montecchi). During 2013 and 2014 she was featured in a number of prominent performances, alongside the likes of
José Carreras,
Plácido Domingo and
Dmitry Hvorostovsky. In 2014 she performed at the
Rosenblatt Recitals held at the Wigmore Hall, London. 2015 saw her sign a recording contract with
Decca Records. She portrayed the French-American soprano star
Lily Pons and performed "The Bell Song" from
Delibes' opera
Lakmé in a downward-transposed key in the 2016 film
Florence Foster Jenkins. In February 2017 she released a self-titled album on Decca, which contains 15 arias recorded with the ORF Radio-Symphony Orchestra directed by
Cornelius Meister. On 13 June 2018, Garifullina performed at the
2018 FIFA World Cup opening gala concert held at the
Red Square in
Moscow. She performed with
Anna Netrebko,
Juan Diego Florez and
Placido Domingo and the
Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra conducted by
Valery Gergiev. On 14 June, Garifullina performed at the
2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony held at the
Luzhniki Stadium in
Moscow. == Personal life ==