Gidon Kremer, Boris Berezovsky, Evgeny Kissin to headline New Year Music Celebrations anniversary in Tbilisi

World-famous violinist Gidon Kremer, pianists Boris Berezovsky and Evgeny Kissin will headline an anniversary New Year festival featuring a multitude of genres and a diverse set of performers in Tbilisi starting next week.

The prominent artists will perform for the audience of the International Jubilee Festival ‘New Year Music Celebrations’ at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire.

Involving nearly a dozen events including piano, chamber, folk and jazz performances, the Festival will celebrate its 20th edition.

Organ, quartet and violin concerts are also on the program, with more foreign and local artists lined up for shows in the Grand Hall of the Conservatoire.

Grammy Award-winning violinist Kremer, praised as "one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation” by the National Public Radio, will be on stage for an Evening of Violin Music on December 16.

Awarded the First Prize of the Latvian Republic at age 16, Kremer went on an illustrious career that has included awards from major international competitions and performances at prestigious venues across the world.

It is fair to say that no other soloist of comparable international stature has done more to promote the cause of contemporary composers and new music for violin”, said the official website of the lauded musician.

Famed Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer will perform for the Tbilisi audience. Photo: gidonkremer.net.

Kremer’s performance will be followed by concerts involving Berezovsky, called "one of the most virtuous piano interpreter of our times” by medici.tv, and Kissin, hailed as "the world’s most acclaimed classical pianist” by The Economist.

Born in Moscow, Boris Berezovsky is a winner of the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, along with other prizes, and has performed with leading orchestras including the Deutsche Oper Berlin and The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Kissin, known for his United States debut at the celebrated Carnegie Hall venue at age 18, is a winner of prizes including the Shostakovich Award of Russia.

The prominent pianist has performed under famed conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim.

The Borodin Quartet will appear in the Grand Hall of the Tbilisi Conservatoire for the Quartet Music Evening. Photo: New Year Music Celebrations.

Before the headlining artists delight the audience of the Festival, the event will launch with a celebration of the legacy of late Georgian violinist Marine Iashvili on December 5.

The launch event will be followed by evenings of jazz, vocal and folk music on December 7, 10 and 12.

The jazz concert will host the quartet led by Italian pianist Antonio Farrao and feature American trumpeter Charles Tolliver.

Pianist Antonio Farrao will lead his quartet in a concert of jazz music. Photo: New Year Music Celebrations.

Soprano Daniela Cappiello and tenor Dario Di Vietri will then perform in a celebration of vocal performing arts, while the Abkhazian State Song Ensemble Shavnabada will feature in the folk music show.

Rounding off anniversary celebrations, a December 28 concert involving professors and teachers of the Conservatoire will conclude events for the 100th anniversary of the venue, marked this year.

The New Year Music Celebrations was established by Georgian pianist Manana Doijashvili in 1997 and is held annually in the month of December.