GEORGIAN PROJECT

Shorena Tsintsabadze

Photo: Elle Urakova

Moscow-born pianist Shorena Tsintsabadze presents her Rachmaninoff recordings with unusual brilliance and sensibility. She disputes the allegation that Rachmaninoff’s music suffers from repetitions. This is shown immediately in her interpretation of Moments Musicaux op. 16, written in 1896.

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Tribute to Rachmaninoff

For Shorena Tsintsabadze, “there is no place in the world more beautiful than Georgia.” This comes as no surprise – after all, it’s where she’s from. But for the Georgian pianist, this avowal of her mother country is more than mere nostalgia, it also means a responsibility to discover and preserve the rich cultural heritage of her homeland. On her new album, she follows this commitment, thereby also shining a light on Georgia’s current status as a pre-accession country for the EU: “I hope that we can defend the interests of our country and help give it the opportunity to continue on its path to European integration, eventually becoming a worthy member of the EU family.” With her new CD, she seeks to contribute to this goal.

Georgia’s history reaches back at least to 1000 BC. Even though classical music only became established there rather late, it has become an indispensable and very characteristic part of Georgian culture since the early nineteenth century. “The reason for such a late development of classical music is the constant struggle for survival amidst the endless wars from all sides. Despite it all, we have not only survived those battles, but also retained our culture and the Georgian language and script,” says Shorena Tsintsabadze. With her album, the pianist delivers a cross-section across classical Georgian music history – of course, it’s not exhaustive, but rather a “best of.” For example, the CD includes music by Zakharia Paliashvili, one of the pioneers of classical Georgian music. His music is characterized by the fusing of folk songs and folk narratives with Romantic themes of the 19^th century. Or Aleksi Machavariani: his piece ‘Khorumi’ is a musical homage to a traditional Georgian fighting dance of the same name, which has been recognized as an immaterial cultural monument. This piece is distinguished by the unusual 5/8 beat which captures the rhythmic spirit of the Khorumi dance.

The list of Georgian composers on this CD is extensive: Revaz Lagidze, Otar Taktakischwili, Sulkhan Tsintsadze are among them, but also Bidzina Kvernadze, Vazha Azarashvili, or Giya Kancheli, probably the most famous name on this compilation. Shorena Tsintsabadze has recorded short but concise miniatures that lay proof to the long, characteristic history of Georgia.

Tsintsabadze has chosen excerpts from Kancheli’s ‘Light Pieces for Piano,’ a collection of all in all 33 pure piano miniatures which comprise an anthology of themes from his film scores and are probably the most charming and epigrammatic work of the composer. A distinctive feature of Kancheli’s music is the use of silence as a way to amplify the audiences’ impressions and reactions. Many of the other characteristic features of the composer, among them modal melodies, bass drones, and great dynamic extremes, are derived from Georgian folk music. This does not just sound exciting, it really is. “I think that this album is of relevance in connection to the latest events and trends in our world. I believe that more people want to get to know our culture, art, and music, and my album will definitely contribute to that,” Shorena Tsintsabadze is convinced.

Shorena Tsintsabadze was born into a family of musicians in Moscow and began her musical career at a young age. She graduated from the academic music school of the Moscow Conservatory and Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory and became an award winner at international piano competitions, such as the Grand International Piano Competition in Paris in 1999.

In 2000, she recorded her first CD under the American label Angelok, featuring works by Rachmaninoff, together with the Russian National Orchestra under the direction of V. Jordania. In 2008, Shorena Tsintsabadze signed a contract with the globally leading classic label Naxos, and recorded S.M. Lyapunov’s masterpieces with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under D. Yablonsky. In 2015, HBDirect.com added Tsintsabadze’s album on their list of best-selling Naxos CDs. She completed her graduate studies at Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory in 2013. Her mentor Professor Sergei L. Dorensky described Shorena as a “radiantly presented pianist with limitless technical abilities and a bright individuality.” During her studies, she remained in constant exchange with exceptional musicians like Nikolai Lugansky, Andrey Pisarev, Pavel Nersessian and Liza Ginzburg.

She has performed in the most important concert halls world-wide and has worked with renown conductors and orchestras. She also has many broadcast performances, both TV and radio shows, in Russia, the United States, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere under her belt. In 2015,

Shorena Tsintsabadze founded the ‘Young Musicians International Association of Georgia.’ The main mission of this organization is to motivate young talented musicians, support them in their creativity, and advance their careers through various events which the organization is planning. Among the first and most important successes in this regard were the establishment of the ‘Music International Summer Academy’ in 2015, the Georgian Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2017 and the Georgian Orchestra Academy in 2019. On her following recordings which were published under the label ARS Produktion in 2019 and 2022, Shorena stayed true to the Romantic era and threw the spotlight on nineteenth century piano music by Schumann, Brahms, Chopin and Liszt, with works that live up to the album’s titles: Klavier Romantik (Piano Romance) and Dedication.

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