Georgian Sinfonietta releasing YouTube recordings for home viewing

With classical and baroque music enthusiasts staying at home on the advice of the government amid the pandemic, the Georgian Sinfonietta orchestra has decided to bring its concert recordings to them via YouTube.

The task is accomplished through a programme of shows ranging from baroque works involving conductor and bassoonist Sergio Azzolini and violinist Christine Busch, to the Early Dances show involving as much focus on costume design and choreography as music.

Launched last week, the diverse five-show selection is comprised of concerts held over the last eight years by the group that founded the Tbilisi Baroque Festival, the first ever baroque music festival in the South Caucasus.

It opened with a YouTube "premiere" of a 2018 anniversary concert of the orchestra at the International Music Festival 'Autumn Tbilisi', led by internationally renown conductor Jordi Savall.

The chamber orchestra is founder of the first baroque music festival in the South Caucasus and a regular performer at Tbilisi musical events. Photo via Georgian Sinfonietta.

Going back further in time, a 2011 Tbilisi show featuring coverage by the French-based classical music channel Mezzo - a first in the South Caucasus - was the second in the series.

The first of the three remaining premieres is Italian & German Baroque, set to be made available for viewing on April 5, 9pm Georgian local time. It is a recording of the Georgian Sinfonietta performance at the 2015 Tbilisi Baroque Festival.

Four days later, a concert involving their rendition of Mozart's monumental Requiem - dedicated to Georgian civilians killed by Soviet military forces on April 9, 1989 in Tbilisi - will be the follow-up show.

On April 12, the digital programme will be concluded by Early Dances, a project fusing historical and experimental dance performance with baroque music at last year's Tbilisi Baroque Festival.

Shows of the programme are premiered on the official YouTube channel of Georgian Sinfonietta, a state chamber orchestra founded in 2008.