Steinway Artist Giorgi Gigashvili gave an enchanting recital at the 2026 Tsinandali Festival. We took the opportunity to ask him five questions about his musical influences, electronic music, and what it means to him to make music in Georgia.
View author's page
Reading time estimated : 3 min
One of my musical inspirations is Martha Argerich, because of her freedom and spirit.
I would also say Beyoncé, because of her genre-defining and genre-bending work.
And mainly conductors. I don’t want to name names, but conducting and conductors give me so much energy, so many impressions, and so much inspiration.
I always do classical pieces with electronic beats. So, if that means inspiration, yes.
But it’s more like vice versa, because my classical music and orchestral pieces also inspire me to create interesting sounds and beats for electronic music.
On the stage of the 2026 Tsinandali Festival, Giorgi Gigashvili chose to close his recital with “Holy Atoms”, a beautiful piece from the 21st century by the contemporary Georgian composer Natalie Beridze.
It always feels like a homecoming. I have many concerts abroad, and it’s so rare to come back to my country and see my people.
It’s a feeling, just like a kind of post-depression healing process, and it also brings the happiest moments.
Especially when I play at the Tsinandali Festival, it feels like home.
Not really, because I know the pieces.
When I am starting to work on a program, of course it is—and feels like—a different time period, from Scarlatti to Nathalie Beridze. But when I am playing it in concert afterwards, it is a constant feeling of no time because I am telling a story.
So, it is only one hour of time passing: it is not like it is that century or this century, but more like one continuous movement through time.
It’s a hard one. I would not play it, but rather listen to it.
If it’s a piano piece, then I would choose Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. If it’s not a piano piece, I would listen to Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10.
