Georgian bass Zaza Gagua has been a member of the ensemble at Staatstheater Darmstadt since 2024. Born in Tbilisi, he first completed two degrees at the Faculty of Law at Tbilisi State University before turning fully to singing. His musical training took him to the Tbilisi State Conservatoire, on an exchange year to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and finally to a master's degree at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, which he completed in 2019.

In the 2026/27 season, he can be heard in Darmstadt as Sarastro (The Magic Flute), Seneca (L'incoronazione di Poppea), Swallow (Peter Grimes), as the First Nazarene and Second Soldier (Salome), and as Schmidt (Andrea Chénier); he will also sing Verdi's Requiem with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra.

His repertoire to date includes Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Il Re/Ramfis (Aida), Tom (Un ballo in maschera), Colline (La Bohème), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Masetto and Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni), and Zuniga (Carmen), among others. He made his stage debut as Oroveso in Bellini's Norma.

Guest engagements have taken him to the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo (as a member of the Young Artists Programme), Opera Rogaland, Den Jyske Opera, the Opéra national du Capitole, the Immling Festival, Opera på Skäret, Operafabriken, and the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre.

He is also in demand as a concert and lieder singer: he has sung the bass solo part in the Verdi and Mozart Requiems with the Jönköping Sinfonietta, the Faroese Symphony Orchestra, and the Stockholm Chamber Choir, and has appeared as a soloist with the Stockholm Concert Orchestra.

His artistry has earned him several awards: in 2015 he won first prize at the Lado Ataneli Singing Competition, and in 2019 he took first prize in the solo voice category at the VII International Competition for Performing Musicians in Tbilisi, as well as a silver medal at the Manhattan International Music Competition. He has also reached the final rounds of the Christina Schymberg Prize, the Wilhelm Stenhammar Competition, and the Opera Crown Competitions.