07:00 pm
Mirian Khukhunaishvili Conductor
Tsotne Zedginidze Piano
Lasha Kharkhelauri Composer
LASHA KHARKHELAURI · “May blindness lead me to the familiar place” (2025, World Premiere)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART · Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 9 in E-flat-major K. 271 (1777)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN · Symphony No. 7 in A-major Op. 92 (1811-1812)
SIMPAY PANARATAS / TBILISI YOUTH ORCHESTRA · A dialogue without words
The number of outstanding musicians produced by the relatively small country of Georgia for many decades is astounding – and it keeps doing so. Stars such as the violinist Lisa Batiashvili or the pianist Khatia Buniatishvili are just the tip of the “iceberg” of musical talent which is also represented in the Tbilisi Youth Orchestra. It was founded in 2019 and most recently appeared at Young Euro Classic in 2023. And then there is the evening’s soloist, Tsotne Zedginidze, born in 2009, who is considered one of the greatest talents today. Extraordinarily gifted both as a composer and a pianist, he will join the Tbilisi Youth Orchestra in one of the most inspired and joyful piano concerti from Mozart’s early years in Vienna, the Concerto in E-flat-major K. 271. The orchestra frames his appearance with a new work from its Georgian homeland and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, itself a breath-taking, show-stopping work.
A dialogue without words: for a fleeting moment, the musicians of the Tbilisi Youth Orchestra meet the ensemble Simpay Panaratas from West Java on this concert evening. Without a score. Without a fixed repertoire. The result is a musical dialogue, a creative adventure, a unique listening experience. A five-minute composition, only for the here and now.
The ensemble Simpay Panaratas perform at the Werner-Otto-Saal the next day, August 10, at 5 pm.
The Giya Kancheli Tbilisi Youth Orchestra is a quite young orchestra: the TYO was only founded in 2019 by the Georgian composer Mikheil Mdinaradze and the conductor Mirian Khukhunaishvili and named in honour of the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli. Its goal is to organize intensive rehearsal periods with professional teachers and soloists, increasing its participants’ knowledge of the classical European music tradition, but also devoting special attention to contemporary music. Every year, the Tbilisi Youth Orchestra gives 15-20 concerts; thus, it organized the festival “Mozartomania” in November 2019 and performed three concerts with Georgian soloists in this context. In 2023, the orchestra made its Young Euro Classic debut. Furthermore, the British Council in Georgia enabled the orchestra to give a joint performance with the British composer and performer Anna Meredith and her band as part of her project Varmints.
The Georgian conductor Mirian Khukhunaishvili began his musical training at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, supported by several scholarships from the President of Georgia and the Ministry of Culture. Starting in 2012, Khukhunaishvili continued his studies at the Cracow Music Academy in Poland, graduating in 2020. The conductor has appeared with all the major ensembles of his country, including the National Philharmonic of Georgia, the Tbilisi State Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of the Tbilisi Opera. He has also been invited to conduct in Amsterdam, Vienna, Paris, Copenhagen and by the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, where he made his debut in October 2022. During the Conductor’s Academy of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Khukhunaishvili won the Paavo Järvi Fellowship and the audience prize in November 2022. He taught conducting at the Academy of the Arts and directed the University Chorus until 2024. In 2019, Mirian Khukhunaishvili co-founded the Tbilisi Youth Orchestra.
At the age of only 15, the Georgian pianist and composer Tsotne Zedginidze is currently considered one of the world’s greatest emerging musical talents. His compatriot Lisa Batiashvili began mentoring him in 2021 through her fellowship programme; Sir Simon Rattle engaged him for performances of Schoenberg’s and Bartók’s piano concertos. He has also been supported by Daniel Barenboim, Jörg Widmann, Alfred Brendel and Sir Antonio Pappano. Born in to a family of musicians, Tsotne Zedginidze received his first piano lessons from his grandmother, the piano pedagogue Nino Mamradze, who continues to be his teacher. At the age of ten, he made his debut with the National Philharmonic of Georgia, playing Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2. In addition, Zedginidze dedicates himself to composing: in January 2025, his Symphony No. 1 was premiered by the Camerata Salzburg during the Mozart Week in Salzburg. Previously, he wrote a violin sonata, a Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra and the piano piece The Bells, which the Georgian artist dedicated to his deceased mother.
Lasha Kharkhelauri (b. 1999 in Tbilisi, Georgia) is a Georgian composer, pianist, and mathematician whose music explores the perception of time and microtonality. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in composition at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire and previously studied composition at the Academy of Music in Cracow and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. One of the main subjects of his research is microtonality and the interaction of different tuning systems. He also studies the peculiarities of the listener's perception of time when listening to a musical work, as a result of which he manipulates musical time in his own works. His works have been premiered by various European ensembles, including the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, the Athens State Orchestra, the Divertimento Ensemble. His compositions have been premiered in various European countries: Georgia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Poland, Finland, Armenia, Greece, and Bulgaria.