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Saturday, December 2, 2017

007_TEH_ Small talk with Nicole Millar: Ketevan Kemoklidze


007_TEH_   Small talk with Nicole Millar: Ketevan Kemoklidze


                    Our Listening Project: The English Hour


Correspondent: Carlos Ortega

TASK. Listen to the Program (up to minute 10) ....
            and answer these 13 questions
Q1. Where does her name come from?  
Q2.  About her family: married? any offspring? Any salient features? 
Q3. What does  the city of Barcelona mean to her? 
Q4. What inspired her to become an opera singer? 
Q5. What anecdote does she tell about going to the opera in Georgia at the 90s?  
Q6.  How the Placido Domingo Operalia is important in the world of young performers? 
Q7.  Does Placido Domingo take part in the contest? 
Q8.  How is the process of selection? 
Q9. What prize did she win at the most important competition of her life? 
Q10. Was it the springboard of her operistic career? 
Q11. What other competitions has she won? 
Q12. Why  did she leave the competition scene? 
Q13. How long is she away from her family while she is performing in other countries ?

Follow-up: 
The next edition of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia,
The World Opera Competition.
Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon, Portugal in 2018
Come meet the next generation of opera stars

https://www.operaliacompetition.org/





007_TEH_   Small talk with Nicole Millar: 
Ketevan Kemoklidze ___________________KEY 


Q1. Where does her name come from? (min 0:46)
She is from Tbilisi, Georgia's capital and its taken form a local Queen.

Q2. About her family: married? any offspring? Any salient features? (min1:43)
Married. Her husband is a professor in the Pompeu Fabra University, he is also Georgian. They have a little child which he is 5 years old, proud to be Georgian in Catalonia; Catalan in Georgia.

Q3. What does the city of Barcelona mean to her? (min3:08)
She always dreamed of living in Barcelona. She loves the sun, the people

and everything from the city in general.

Q4. What inspired her to become an opera singer? (min 4:03)
She has been always singing Georgian folk songs, also, she was learning how to play the piano at the school and when the school celebrate a concert she decided that it will be great if she sang while she was playing the piano.

Q5. What anecdote does she tell about going to the opera in Georgia at the 90s? (min5:10)
In Georgia in the 90s there was a civil war. Despite the odds, she was always going to the opera house despite the difficult situation (no electricity, no buses)


Q6. How the Placido Domingo Operalia is important in the world of young performers? (min 5:15)
Operalia is a very important competition set up by Placido Domingo. It was a breakthrough moment for her. She became the winner (2009). In addition, important directors could see the young performers on stage. That offered her the possibility to win prestige. 


Q7. Does Placido Domingo take part in the contest? (min 6:45)
Placido Domingo himself is the conductor (his baton) for those who pass the

3rd round, which was an an outstanding motivation for her. 

Q8. How is the process of selection? (min 7:15)
From the large crowd of applicants, who send their work recorded. Then, they are put down to a group of just forty.

Q9. What prize did she win at the most important competition of her life? (min 7:42)
The best singer that year, and with a “zarzuela”, it was her first time singing that type of song and moreover it was in Spanish. Besides, she sang some zarzuela pieces.

Q10. Was it the springboard of her operistic career? (min 8:03)
No. Obviously, winning this prize opened many doors to her. But she had already sang at La Scala (Milano) and Lliceu (Bcn). Later, she did it at Covent Garden (London), Teatro Real (Madrid)

Q11. What other competitions has she won? (min 8:40)
The Belvedere competition , the grand prix Toulouse and several Georgian

competitions.

Q12. Why did she leave the competition scene? (min 9:13)
After winning the Operalia competition she thought that it was difficult to improve her style so she hasn’t taken part in other competitions lately.

Q13. How long is she away from her family while she is performing in other countries ? (min 9:37)
For almost one month, she would spend three weeks rehearsing and one week performing the opera. 

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