Opera Camerata: chamber group launching at Tbilisi opera

The State Opera House of Georgia now has its own chamber music orchestra in Opera Camerata, a group involving the leading musical artists of the company and set to debut with a concert on Friday.

First conceived during the opera house company’s tour of Italy last year, the chamber project will invite classical music audiences to a performance of works by both Georgian and foreign composers at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre.

Led by concert master Lela Mtchedlidze, the group involves “all leading musicians” and leading concert masters of the theatre, an opera house release said.

Its forming represents an effort to spur higher quality of orchestra performances on the local scene by grouping the leading performers in a smaller collective.

Mtchedlidze told a Georgian Public Broadcaster programme her group had looked to select works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — a mainstay of chamber performances — but also by romantic composers for their inaugural show.

Their selection of music will also offer Tbilisi audiences to hear some of the works rarely performed on the local scene, including Symphony No. 7 by Felix Mendelssohn.

Béla Bartók, Sulkhan Tsintsadze and Vakhtang Matchavariani are the other composers whose creations are set to go under rendition in the capital on Friday.

In subsequent shows, a diverse repertory “ranging from baroque to contemporary chamber music” will be brought to listeners in Tbilisi and other locations throughout Georgia, while the artists will also travel for international tours.

The Friday concert will have free admission for the public at the theatre located at 25, Rustaveli Avenue.