Final event of “Night Serenades”
By Mariam Chanishvili
Friday, September 6
On September 4, the closing event of the festival of classical music “Night Serenades” took place at Tbilisi State Conservatoire Grand Hall.
The final event was attended by the president of Georgia and other representatives of the government structures.
Two magnificent works by Manuel de Falla, one of the greatest Spanish composers of the 20th century, closed the 2019 edition of the festival (Love, the Magician & The Three Cornered Hat).
The first part of the final concert featured performance of Beethoven - 8th Symphony by the orchestra. The audience had a chance to listen to the performance by world-renowned mezzo-soprano Nino Surguladze, who performed Manuel de Falla’s piece "Love, the Magician" after the performance of Beethoven - 8th Symphony by the orchestra.
“Love, the Magician” is a ballet composed in 1914–15 by Manuel de Falla to a libretto by Gregorio Martinez Sierra. In 1916, Falla arranged a rendition of the work for sextet and small orchestra and the following year he made a concert version, also for small orchestra. Later, he fashioned a piano suite from it and finally, a second ballet version (1925) that features expanded orchestration, elimination of the narration, small cuts, and plot changes, and a different order to the numbers.
The orchestra’s magnificent performance of “The Three Cornered Hat” charmed the public.
Beethoven conceived his Eighth Symphony at the same time as his Seventh, focusing on the former during the summer of 1812. It premiered on February 27, 1814, at a concert in Redoutensaal, Vienna, where it premiered just a few months before its 7th Symphony.
As an encore performance, Nino Surguladze performed Habanera for the audience, an aria from the famous opera Carmen by Georges Bizet, which is also referred to as "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle."
Artistic directors of the festival are Liana Issakadze and Giorgi Issakadze. The director of the festival is Nina Tsagareli.
The series of events kicked off in Batumi. Three concerts took place on August 25, 27 and 28.
The principal conductor of the festival was Vakhtang Matchavariani, while the basic orchestra of the festival was Georgian Virtuosi.
Various musicians such as Sandro Nebieridze (piano), David Shamanauri (trumpet), Anna-Liisa Bezrodny (violin), Pantelis Kogiamis (guest conductor), Jan Erik Gustafsson (cello) participated in the festival.
Jan Erik Gustafsson, who has performed with Liana Issakadze in the past, dedicated his performance to famous cellist, National Artist of Georgia and Professor Eldar Issakadze, Liana’s brother. Jan Erik Gustafsson noted the importance of Eldar Issakadze’s records and notes while preparing for this concert.
One of the events that took place in Batumi was a charity concert, with free admission.
Konstantine Vardeli String Quartet performed at Zakaria Paliashvili Music School.
Concerts in Tbilisi were held on September 2 and 4. A trio from Kazakhstan performed on September 2.
The artistic directors of the festival, Giorgi Issakadze noted that each year, the new edition and version of the festival is offered to the audience. He also highlighted the spirit and devotion of the orchestra and thanked the principal conductor of the festival – maestro Vakhtang Matchavariani for productive artistic work and dedication.
“This year, the festival was presented with a special and very interesting program. Except for performing music by foreign composers, we had a chance to perform important pieces by Georgian composers, including Vazha Azarashvili, Sulkhan Tsintsadze, Aleksi Machavariani, etc. One of the pieces by Aleksi Machavariani was performed for the first time, which is an unfinished 6th quartet.
Beethoven’s 8th Symphony was performed in a brilliant manner by the orchestra with the interpretation of maestro Vakhtang Matchavariani.
Fantastic soloists performed for the audience. I am very happy that young musicians had a chance to participate in our festival.
Batumi hosted several concerts of our festival. The warmth of the audience gives us the motivation to continue conducting and developing the festival,” said he.
Issakadze thanked the Basic Orchestra of the Festival, noting that he was proud to witness “very warm and friendly environment throughout the preparation process.”
The event is organized by the company Art Alliance. The main partners of the festival are - Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia; Batumi City Hall; Tbilisi City Hall; Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara; Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.
The tradition of holding International music festivals in Georgia goes back to the 80s of the 20th century. Its initiator was a renowned Georgian violinist and conductor Liana Issakadze. In 1982, she was the first to have founded the International Festival “Night Serenades” in Abkhazia. The festival used to take place in Bichvinta and gained great success.
Unfortunately, in 1991, the festival stopped to exist. 18 years later, in 2009, by the support of Batumi City Hall and Vice Mayor Natia Surguladze, International Festival was revived in one of the most beautiful cities of the Black Sea area, Batumi, the initiator of which was the founder of the festival Liana Issakadze.
