10th Year for Batumi-Tbilisi International Festival "Night Serenades"
Yesterday, Georgia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport held a press conference on this year’s Batumi-Tbilisi International Festival “Night Serenades.”
The press conference was led by the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, Mikheil Batiashvili, Artistic Director of the Festival, Giorgi Isakadze, Director General of the Festival, Nina Tsagareli, renowned conductor Vakhtang Machavariani, violinist Gia Iashvili, and general sponsor of the festival Valeri Pantsulaia.
With the support of the Ministry, from August 26 to September 4, 2018, the Batumi-Tbilisi International Festival "Night Serenades" will be held for the 10th year.
Several talented artists will be performing at this year’s 10th Anniversary Festival, including pianist Alexander Korsantia (Georgia/USA), conductor Vakhtang Machavariani (Georgia/Germany), violinist Gia Iashvili (Georgia/Austria), violinist Geza Hosszu-Legocky (Switzerland/USA), bandoneon player Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, and composer Ioseb Bardanashvili (Georgia/Israel). The foundation of this year’s festival will be the Chamber Orchestra "Georgia’s Virtuosos" (Sakartvelos Virtuozebi).
Concerts will be held on August 26, 28, and 29 at the concert hall of the Sheraton Batumi hotel and in the main hall of the Conservatoire in Tbilisi on September 2 and 4.
The "Night Serenades" Festival was founded in 1982 at the initiative of famous Georgian violinist and conductor Liana Isakadze. In 1991, the festival stopped, but recovered 18 years later. In Batumi in 2009 it was brought back to life. Liana Isakadze is still the artistic director of the festival. This year, “Night Serenades” will be attended by Liana Isakadze’s nephew, German artist Giorgi Isakadze, who is the founder and director of a music school in Ingolstadt, Germany, and a dance and music academy in Munich.
Over the years, great interest in the festival led to its expansion and was renamed the Batumi-Tbilisi International Festival in 2015.
By Samantha Guthrie
Photo: Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport