Top classical musicians in Tbilisi for international music festival

More than a dozen internationally recognised classical musicians will perform in Tbilisi within the Tengiz Amirejibi International Music Festival, which will officially launch later today.

The Tbilisi State Conservatory’s Grand Hall will host the official opening of the 4th annual festival as well as performances by featured artists over the next three days.

This year's festival will celebrate 260 years since the birth of Austrian classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the 110th birthday of late Russian artist Dmitri Shostakovich.

Japanese violinist Ken Aiso has visited Georgia and performed at the Tbilisi State Conservatory in previous years. Photo from www.pasadenaconservatory.org.

The three-day festival will include performances of pieces by the two composers, as well as by Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann and other legendary creators.

More than a dozen local and international classical musicians will take part in the festival, including acclaimed Georgian pianist Alexander Korsantia, Russian cellist and conductor Denis Shapovalov, Japanese violinist Ken Aiso and young piano prodigy Sandro Nebieridze, who stunned the audience of the Moscow Grand Piano Competition with his Grand Prix-winning performance in May.

Other performers will travel to Tbilisi Poland, Italy and other European states to complete the line-up of the event.

See Russian cellist Denis Shapovalov perform a piece by late Italian classical composer Gioachino Rossini with bassist Gennady Krutikov in Moscow in 2012 below:

This year the International Music Festival will be held under the umbrella of Check in Georgia, a Governmental project involving dozens of cultural events and performances in the country throughout the year.

Established in 2013, the International Music Festival was named after late Georgian pianist Tengiz Amirejibi (1927-2013), who was awarded the titles of the Honourable Artist of Georgia and People's Artist of Georgia throughout his musical career and educational work.

During his life Amirejibi taught several Georgian pianists now known around the world for their enthusiastic performances including festival participants Korsantia and Tamar Licheli as well as Khatia Buniatishvili, who has performed at some of the world's most prestigious halls and was praised as "one of today’s most technically gifted young pianists" by the classical music review website Gramophone.