Anita Rachvelishvili’s second album Élégie showcases her in the song repertoire to which she has a special connection despite being best known as a star of the world's greatest opera houses. Riccardo Muti has called the Georgian singer “without doubt the best Verdi mezzo-soprano today on the planet”, but here she reveals another side to her art. The repertoire is notable for its variety featuring five languages (Russian, Georgian, Italian, French and Spanish) and, correspondingly, five very different repertoire traditions. "I really love this repertoire. It gives one more colours and more possibilities for expressing emotions with the voice", says Anita Rachvelishvili. Echoing her debut album of operatic arias on Sony, she introduces listeners to a great if internationally neglected Georgian composer, in this case Otar Taktakisvili, heard in The Sun of October, a setting of the distinguished Georgian poet Galaktion Tabidze. As well as Rachmaninov's setting of the Pushkin poem Oh never sing to me again and Tchaikovsky's None but the lonely heart.

Anita Rachvelishvili became internationally known on the opening night of the La Scala season in 2009, when she sang the title role in Carmen opposite Jonas Kaufmann under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. This performance marked her debut in the role and was televised all over the world. She has since debuted this signature role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, State Opera in Berlin, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, Teatro Regio in Turin, Canadian Opera Company, and Arena di Verona. The present album features some of the most popular and enduring opera arias in the mezzo Repertoire: two arias from Carmen, operatic favorites such as Saint-Saens Mon coeur s'ouvre � ta voix (Samson et Dalila) and Verdi's O don fatale (Don Carlo), in addition to a rarity: the Cavatina of King Tamar, from Georgian composer Dmitry Arakishvili's opera The Legend of Shota Rustaveli, demonstrating her Georgian heritage.