Evening of classical music organized for charity
By Salome Modebadze
Tuesday, August 6
Red carpet, a glass of wine, evening dresses and classical music, made Aghmashenebeli Avenue the favorite venue for lovers of tasteful music on August 1st when the Mikeladze Centre closed its season with a charity concert.
Motivated to help the children displaced from the Tskhinvali region, the center and its friends held an open-air concert to gather money for the children who are so eager to study music but, lack musical instruments.
Nikoloz Rachveli (Nika Memanishvili) Music Director of the Mikeladze Centre said the evening was a special summary of the seasonal activities of the centre, its national philharmonic and the national choir after the 27 concerts delivered in 7 months with local and foreign musicians.
“We all gathered today to help the children affected by the war,” he said, expressing his gratitude towards each and every person who had made this event come true and the people who always attend their concerts and remain loyal.
Nino Nakhutsrishvili, Executive Director of the centre, said they received a letter from children displaced after the August War in 2008 who now live in Skra. “They want to study music very much and thus they asked us for help. This is why we want to make a little contribution,” she explained.
It was the initial idea of the Georgian mezzo soprano Anita Rachvelishvili to hold a charitable concert, while Teona Jorbenadze, Art Director of the International Charity Foundation Iavnana, who suggested making an open-air concert with the evening dresses to make the event more unforgettable.
Jorbenadze, who was the author of the scenario for the concert said she had attended all the concerts of this season and decided to cooperate with the Mikeladze Centre “because it is the unity of very talented musicians, very youthful and open for musical experiments.”
“I think this event was a success, because our audience was ready to take this challenge. You can see how beautiful they look tonight. Charity should become festive with classical music and thus create a nice tradition,” she told The Messenger.
Levan Makaridze, Gocha Datusani, Nikoloz Lagvilava and Makvala Aspanidze performed the pieces from Zakaria Paliashvili’s Abesalom and Eteri, while Anita Rachvelishvili and her Italian husband, Riccardo Massi, performed the pieces from Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco.
The Georgian mezzo soprano said she was proud to be standing on this stage and doing charity. Talking on behalf of the Georgians living abroad, she said they always miss Georgia and cannot ever find a more beautiful place in this world. “We always carry our homeland in our hearts and we will always try to be engaged in the activities that will promote the name of our country,” Rachvelishvili said.
At the end of the gala, Rachveli thanked Tbilisi City Hall, the patrol police and the state security service for their assistance. Aghmashenebeli Avenue has been closed for the concert so that the guests could freely walk to the red carpet. Local residents listened to the concert from their balconies as well.
The Head of Tbilisi Centre of Cultural Events of Tbilisi City Hall, Neka Sebiskveradze, said her centre will always support such quality projects. “I am happy to see so many smiling faces; I am glad that people are so eager to attend the events of classical music,” she told us.
The Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection also joined the initiative so that the government will finance the art schools for IDP children from the state budget from the next year.
After the gala concert the guests joined the food festival organized by the Restaurant Gril at Plekhanovi and enjoyed the music of the Georgian Bras.
