Since 2019, the Tsinandali Festival in the Kakheti region of eastern Georgia has quickly become the leading venue for a wide range of audiences. With diverse programs and a large number of outstanding performers from different parts of the world, the festival has firmly put its name on the map of the classical music world.
On August 31, the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra under the direction of Festival Music Director Maestro Gianandrea Noseda and star pianist Yefim Bronfman kicked off the fifth anniversary edition of the festival on the stage of the beautiful Amphitheater. Ten consecutive days of recitals, chamber music, and orchestral concerts were performed by internationally acclaimed rising stars: Maestro Manfred Honeck, Mao Fujita, Nobuyuki Tsujii, Julien Quentin, Amihai Grosz, Augustin Hadelich, Michael Barenboim, Marc Bouchkov, and child prodigy Tsotne Zedginidze.
The Rachmaninoff Anniversary Marathon, a tribute to Lekso Toradze, took up the whole day of September 2. The Chamber Music Hall hosted five unforgettable concerts and the magnificent artists, such as Alexander Malofeev, Zlatomir Fung, Boris Giltburg, Irina Sherazadishvili, Nino Jvania. The final firework of the evening was Giorgi Gigashvili, who enchanted the audience with live improvisations on themes by Rachmaninoff.
David Garrett & Ensemble joined the festival as part of the ICONIC Tour 2023, but it was not only his playing that the violinist wanted to share. The Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Vakhtang Kakhidze and pianist Olga Scheps premiered a piano concerto by David Garrett / John Haywood - "One World".
The brilliant Lisa Batiashvili introduced the new generation of musicians of her foundation and also played the final concert of the festival. Together with the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra and Mestaro Christoph Koncz, she performed Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 61, with the extraordinary cadenzas of Alfred Schnittke.
As in previous years, C. Bechstein was exclusively represented with the two D282 grand pianos, which delighted all the invited pianists. We are very happy about our fruitful partnership with the Tsinandali Festival and look forward to the next edition in 2024!
