Lado Ataneli has won an enviable reputation as an interpreter of Verdi, Puccini and verismo rôles. The Georgian baritone studied at the State Conservatory in his home city of Tbilisi. In 1989 he made his début as Renato in Un ballo in maschera at the Tbilisi National Theatre. In 1991 he won first prize and the Grand Prix at the International Francisco Viñas Competition in Barcelona. His string of successes continued with first place awards in such competitions as the I Cestelli vocal competition and the Fifteenth Belvedere Competition in Vienna.

Lado Ataneli’s international career began in 1996. Since then he has regularly appeared at the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, Teatro alla Scala, San Francisco Opera, and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He is equally at home on stages in Zürich, Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Tokyo and New York and has collaborated with distinguished conductors, including Riccardo Muti, James Conlon, James Levine and Marcello Viotti.