Sofia Nizhardadze

With Eurovision 2010 having drawn to a close have any of the singers left a lasting impression.   Every year I find someone to enchant me and whose career I start to follow from Kate Ryan to Mihai Traistairiu, Charlotte Perelli to Sandra Oxenryd, Alexander Rybak to Lara Fabian.  This year the most outstanding vocalist was the beautiful Sofia Nizharadze representing Georgia.

The song itself ‘Shine’ was so so, and while I really did like the choreography I felt it wasn’t needed for the song.  What I only found out afterwards was Sofia is a trained soprano.  Most recently she shared a stage with the great Jose Carreras dueting on ‘Tonight’ from ‘West side story’.  I love when artists prove they have amazing vocal ranges.  For instance Charlotte Church can sing soprano yet her normal singing voice is mediocre at best, a point proved when she was overshadowed vocally by the contestants on ‘Over the rainbow’.   Sophia’s vocal on ‘Shine’ however remained top notch, despite been thrown about the stage.

Of Turkish Georgian origins she began studing piano and singing in the state Conservatory where she graduated with honors moving on to the Gnesiny academy of music where she also graduated with honors.

She has won several international song contests, including the Italian ‘Bravo, Bravissimo’ , the Russian ‘Crystal Note’ and the Georgian ‘Crystal fur-tree’ competitions.  In 2004 she moved to Russia after getting  the lead role in Gerard Presgurvics musical extravaganza of ‘Romeo and Juillet’ however when the war between Russia and Georgia broke out in 2008 she returned home.

She has covered some amazing songs from ‘I am telling you’ from ‘Dreamgirls’ to Lara Fabians ‘Adagio’ also taking on the role of Christine for a performance of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and all this by the age of twenty four.

Without any shadow of a doubt she is a force to look out for, with looks to rival Cheryl Cole and a vocal range to knock her out of the water all she needs is a Simon Cowell to get her an international break.