Tbilisi festival pays homage to composers Kancheli, Shostakovich

Some of the most fascinating music by celebrated composers Dmitri Shostakovich and Giya Kancheli will be played by local and travelling performers within a week-long Tbilisi festival starting next Tuesday.

The Alla Kontrapunkt festival will be held to pay homage to the famous Russian composer Shostakovich (1906-1975) and Kancheli, regarded as one of Georgia’s most outstanding contemporary musicians.

Their music will be performed by orchestras and solo artists at two theatre venues in Georgia’s capital.

The festival will premiere new work 'Letters for Friends' by Kancheli. Photo: Sophio Melikidze/Georgian National Music Centre.

Organised by the Evgeny Mikeladze Georgian National Music Centre, the festival will open at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre.

The show will celebrate the work of the two composers in a performance of Kancheli’s piece Light Sorrow and Symphony No. 5 by Shostakovich.

Led by conductor Kakhi Solomnishvili, the Evgeny Mikeladze Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra will perform the two works.

The evening will also feature the children’s choir from Gori Sulkhan Tsintsadze College and soloists Alexandre Sadunishvili and Akaki Kereselidze.

The premiere performances for Kancheli's new work will be conducted by Nikoloz Rachveli. . Photo: Sophio Melikidze/Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Follow-up events will be also held at the Shota Rustaveli State Drama Theatre, with performances also featuring conductor Nikoloz Rachveli and guest performers including clarinetist Julian Milkis, pianist Maria Meerovitch and violinist Andrea Cortesi.

The roster of internationally acclaimed artists will also feature pianist Ksenia Bashmet, violist Giorgi Zagareli, trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov and cellist Boris Andrianov.

A centrepiece of the festival will be the international premiere of Kancheli’s new piece Letters for Friends, held on May 12.

The work was created by the acclaimed composer as a collection of pieces for cinema and theatre.

Each of these pieces is dedicated to my closest friends, without whom my life, and therefore my work, would have been different. The 25 musical pictures represent an attempt at expressing the gratitude I have always felt for each of them”, said a summary for the works by Kancheli.

Italian violinist Andrea Cortesi will be among invited performers of the festival. Photo: Sergio Fortini. 

Written for violin and string orchestra, the compositions will be performed by the Gori choir and philharmonic orchestra.

The performances will also feature Italian violinist Cortesi, known as the founder of musical projects the Millenium Chamber Orchestra, Quartetto Mosaico and Collegium Tiberinum.

Kancheli’s creative work will be highlighted at the event with performances of his pieces including Night Prayers and Styx.

The legacy of Shostakovich will be marked at the festival by artists performing his Sonata for Viola and Piano as well as Cello Concerto No. 1, among other creations.

The Alla Kontrapunkt festival will run in Tbilisi through May 15.