biographi

1) …And the Scottish Opera Orchestra and Chorus, under the superbly incisive direction of Vakhtang Matchavariani, played and sang like heroes.--- Under Matchavariani, the Scottish Opera Orchestra produced some of the finest Orchestral Magic I ever heard from this band. The Glasgow Herald. U.K. MICHAEL TUMELTY.
2) …These works were magnificently conducted by Vakhtang Matchavariani and I have never heard the Scottish Opera Orchestra playing so brilliantly. The Spectator. U.K. R. MILNES.
3) …Both were done more than justice under the devil-driven direction of Vakhtang Matchavariani… The performance was gripping from first to last; the central C major climax was an unashamed: COUP DE THEATHER in which music, light and movement combined to knock the audience senseless. Opera Magazine. R. MILNES.
4) V. Matchavariani…realized the truly lucid and evocative nature of the score. Daily Telegraph U.K. K. WALTON..
5) …Conductor Vakhtang Matchavariani… drew atmospheric performances. Sunday Times. U.K. P. DRIVER.
6) The voltage of the performance is greatly increased by the playing of the Scottish Opera Orchestra under V. Matchavariani,… - every detail tells and has purpose and points. He was expressive and in his element with the Stravinsky’s Opera-Oratorio. Financial Times. U.K. MAX LOPPERT.
7) MAJOR STEPS FOR AN IMPERIAL CONDUCTOR, V. Matchavariani is technically the beast. He communicates well with his hands and face, and trusts players. The Glasgow Herald. U.K. C. BOWEN. D. Kabalevsky. “Musical life”, Moscow , №6 , march 1958.
8) The fresh and buoyant conducting of Vakhtang Matchavariani ensures a performance of real vitality. He gained breath and the orchestra rose well to the climax. The Independent. U.K. RAYMOND MONELLE.
9) …And in the Georgian conductor Vakhtang Matchavariani they had a figure of almost demonic energy and memorable power to see them through the evening. Manchester Evening News. U.K. R. BENLE.
10) At the ROYAL ALBERT HALL – The large attentive audience was rewarded by the powerful performances of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10. The Daily Telegraph U.K.
11) Conductor Vakhtang Matchavariani drew as good a performance from the players as I can remember. Jewish Echo. U.K. E. KING..
12) If it works it is because of the stark lighting and fairly robust account of the score under conductor Vakhtang Matchavariani, his control of the orchestra revealed Bartok’s overlap with Wagner and Janácek imaginatively enough. Scotland on Sunday. U.K. JOHN MARRIOTT.
13) V. Matchavariani produced a romantic and deeply Mahlerian interpretation. No doubt he is a master of the baton. Musikal-dia-Bilbao Musica Clasica. SPAIN.
4) With ample gesture, constantly attentive and in full command, Matchavariani rendered magnificently the color and volume of the excellent orchestration of Rimsky-Korsakov’s SHEHEREZADE. DEIA – SPAIN.
15) The premiere in Bilbao of Bartok’s DUKE BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE was a remarkable experience under the conducting of Vakhtang Matchavariani. DEIA – SPAIN.
16) Inspired performance of SHEHEREZADE – with grandeur, sonority, richness of timbre and splendid brilliance – under the powerful baton of Vakhtang Matchavariani. EL CORREO – SPAIN. Fine interpretation of Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” by Matchavariani , conducted with a great mastery; a perfect orchestral treatment of the score. EL CORREO – SPAIN.
17) V. Matchavariani produced dense and most convincing interpretation of the R. Wagner’s TANNHÄUSER, RIENZI & TRISTAN AND ISOLDE Overtures and prelude-served by highly talented soloists of the Moscow Festival Orchestra. Matchavariani gave full brilliance and spirit of the music. EL MUNDO – SPAIN.
18) With a tender and incisive gesture, Matchavariani conducted in a dynamic move the Symphony No. 5 of Tchaikovsky. L’ARENA. - ITALY.
19.) Then there is the score to which the work is set (“The Knight in the Tiger Skin”). It is by Alexey Machavariani, and is as overwhelming to the ear as the setting are to the eye. By Jakob Siskind. “The citizen” – Ottawa. 14-06-1986.
20) Matchavariani effectively conducted the orchestra, having lined up the elements almost provoking a confusion while performing the first original version of “The Night on the Bare Mountain” by Musorgsky and not the version by Rimsky-Korsakov. He firmly kept the titanic sound under absolute control. He was molding the music at his own discretion having revealed so very powerfully its hidden layers. STUTTGARTER ECHO. GERMANY.
21) Matchavariani masterfully balances the orchestra and the stage. It was an ideal contemporary interpretation of Chaikovsky’s opera. St. GALLER TAGEBLATT - MATTHIAS MUELLER. SWITZERALAND.
22) Vakhtang Matchavariani presented Rakhmaninov’s epic musical speech, and he did it with ease, power and fierce control. BASLER ZEITUNG. RAINMAR WAGNER. SWITZERALAND..
23) Conductor Matchavariani was working as a very competent musician. He used a precise gesture. He led the orchestra in a compact built, using powerful accents and putting the singers on the same high level. LUZERNER ZEITUNG. FRITZ SCHAUB. SWITZERALAND.
24) Georgian conductor Vakhtang Matchavariani let the orchestra share Communion with colorfulness of sound and the delight of musical exercise. BUENDER ZEITUNG. PETER SCHAUFELBERGER. SWITZERALAND.
25) Vakhtang Matchavariani conducts convincingly the vivid colors of Rakhmaninov as well as the overflowing romanticism in Chaikovsky’s opera. He does this in both scores with a firm manner. DER BUND. BERN. MARTIN ETTER. SWITZERALAND.
26) There was a real action in the orchestra. The growing excitement was coming from the orchestra directed by Vakhtang Matchavariani in the first night full house. TAGESEANZEIGER. SUSANNE KÜBLER. SCHWEIZ. SWITZERLAND.
27) Matchavariani presented himself as a tutor and governor of the orchestra, full of power and feelings. He trusts the musicians of the orchestra thus guaranteeing that the meaning of the peace reaches their hearts and minds. LÜBECKER STADTZEITUNG. GERMANY.
28) This was the celebration of the Russian school of music. The orchestra acquired radiance under Vakhtang Matchavariani. The composer and the director were parts of one whole. It is hard to imagine any better performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony Number Six than in the interpretation given by Matchavariani. LÜBECKER NACHRICHTEN. WOLFGANG TSCHECHNE. GERMANY.
29) E. Mikeladze Georgia State Symphony is a high-class orchestra characterized with lofty emotionality and the precision of sounding. Conductor Matchavariani governs and controls the whole process with a gentle hand, which creates a great impression. RHEINISCHE POST. HEIDE OEHMEN. GERMANY.
30) Georgia State Symphony is an orchestra of a first class international category. Maestro Matchavariani’s movements are light, individual and clearly delineated as if dancing a minuet. He conducts the orchestra with determination using those invisible ropes. WESTDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG. HORST M. BECKER. GERMANY.
31) Georgia State Symphony orchestra and Vakhtang Matchavariani at Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Before the Festival Ouverture, the 2 nd piano concerto and the 10-th Sypmphony were played, conductor Vakhtang Matchavariani from Georgia payed tribute to his father, composer Alexi Matchavariani. This artist was a contemporary of Shostakovich. He also experienced the decline of the Soviet Regime and subsequently the artistic turnaround. That's why it is not surprising that two parts of the Suite " The Knight in the Panterskin " had a striking resemblance with for example Shostakovich 5-th Symphony. Father Matchavariani had started experimenting with more atonal malodylines. With the American pianist Ana-Maria Vera it luckily is progression.Vera is known a beautiful young lady who with calm assurance gives way to her musical vision. The tenacity and power that the conductor Vakhtang Matchavariani showed in the 10-th Symphony of Shostakovich was an example of how this orchestra has a characteristic way of playing with which it in any case got a lot of acclaim with the Amsterdam public. JOS RUITERS, NOORD HOLLANDS DAGBLAD. 14-08-2002..
32) Matchavariani elevated Prokofiev’s Symphony Number Five to a supreme intimate significance, having used no traditional music ideology. He gave the peace an amazingly rich and transparent musical sounding. MÄRKISCHE ODERZEITUNG. PETER BUSKE. GERMANY..
33) Once again, Vakhtang Matchavariani has demonstrated his unusual sense of rhythm presenting Prokofiev’s Symphony Number Five, especially in the Symphony’s allegro and dancing rhythm parts. MÄRKISCHE ALLGEMEINE. JÖRG ZIMMERMAN. GERMANY.
34) V. Matchavariani spellbound the orchestra. He looked presentable and explosive. His communicative and emotional presentation radiated the light. LA TRIBUNELE PROGRES. NICOLE MICHALON. FRANCE.
36) The first performance in Israel of the Georgian conductor Vakhtang Matchavariani was a nice surprise, in a warm and enthusiastic conducting language that caught that caught the orchestra’s players and fascinated the audience. MA’ARIV. ORA BINUR. ISRAEL.
37.) HATS OFF GENTLEMEN. On 30 October internationally famous Georgian conductor Vakhtang Machavariani gave a concert of the work of Mussorgsky,Prokofiev and his father Aleksi Machavariani at Tbilisi Music Centre. .............................. It was a risk devoting the second half of the programme to Aleksi Machavariani's music for the ballet "The Taming of the Shrew",particulary as it was the world premiere of this piece. It is a substantial work,certainly not incidental music,and in a way it was unfortunate that this was the premiere,as it will repay considerable future study. It grabs the audience from the first however,and in an unusual way.The first bars declare "Watch out,watch out,there's a shrew about",and you never know how seriously to take what is being said throughout. It is very difficult to maintain such a tone for any length of time without being misunderstood,but this music and this performance pulled this off,in an excellent rendering of the light comedy of Shakespeare's play.Within a short while you know that this is going to be the highlight of the show.The orchestration is flawless and very satisfying for the performers,who each have a considerable part and plenty to say, the music darting around from one section to another like a gymnast flinging himself about on the rings.The deeply suggestive tempo,the musical equivalent of rapidly raising eyebrows,is maintained even in the more solemn parts,when the consequences of all the jollity are reflected on,but nothing gets in the way of the fundamental triumph of fun when the shrew is tamed,but into a wiser shrew,at the end. Like all bloodthirsty reviewers you wait for the misplaced effect,mistiming,failure of expres- sion,wrong choice or misplaced note in this piece.In this music,and this performance of it, this reviewer waited in vain.The piece is brilliant,like the way it was played,but it has far greater substance than a work which has brilliance alone.When you write reviews people tell you not to be too positive or negative because people will think it is a put up job.If this newspaper wants to sack me for telling the truth,let it. If Russia wants to start another war and Georgia can choose its weapon,it should choose the music of Aleksi Machavariani. By Rumwold Leigh. "Messenger". 03.11.2009.
38.) HATS OFF GENTLEMEN. On 30 October internationally famous Georgian conductor Vakhtang Machavariani gave a concert of the work of Mussorgsky,Prokofiev and his father Aleksi Machavariani at Tbilisi Music Centre. The evening began with Mussorgsky's famous tone poem "Night on a Bare Mountain"....... In this rendering this was finely controlled,tonal appropriateness appearing to be one of Vakhtang Machavariani's characteristics as a conductor.Another is that he seems to be interested in what the composer actualy meant,rather than what other people are supposed to infer from it,something always particulary noticeable in the way people render Russian music.Many Western conductors except their orchestras to drown Rusiian music in tortuous sweeps and groans,as if written by a loquacious drunk going berserk in a bar. This completely misses the subcutaneous fatalism at the heart of all Russian music, extracted simply by playing the notes.To this extend Night on a Bare Mountain does not sound very Russian,but Vakhtang Machavariani and his highly proficient orchestra were able to convey the fact that it is not only universal but very much a piece of 1886,when Russian aristocrats were busy showing how modern they were by developing an iterest in spirits and ghoulies inherent in many Western countries long before. The second piece was Prokofiev's 3 rd Piano Concerto..... By Rumwold Leigh. "Messenger". 03.11.2009. The Georgian, Russian and Soviet Press.
Matchavariani the man with the answers. Georgian music lovers commemorated the 95th birthday of famous Georgian composer Alexi Matchavariani at a concert held at Tbilisi musical centre on November 14. The Georgia National Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Vakhtang Matchavariani, his son, a conductor widely experienced and respected in Europe. The concert began with Matchavariani's Third Symphonic Suit from the ballet Othello. This was first performed in 1957 at the Tbilisi State Opera, and swiftly achieved international recognition, being staged in many cities worldwide. On the basis of the music alone, you can see why. Matchavariani's music turns this on its head, by combining this with a warm lyricism and deep devotion to music itself which puts this intellectualism into context. Yes, that part of life exists, but we all have a fundamental humanity, expressed through soaring violin lines, superb orchestration and organic harmony and counterpoint. People did seem to be a bit taller after hearing this music, and seeing how Vakhtang Matchavariani instilled the sense of the importance of this work, that it had a universality beyond 'interpretation'. The second half of the concert was the premiere of symphonic suite The Taming of the Shrew. This was a thoroughly enjoyable romp, Shakespeare's Shrew reappearing in a motif when least expected, emotion suddenly leavened by playfulness, argument dissolving into the drama that had created it. This is was what Shakespeare would have composed himself, as Matchavariani clearly had the same connection with truth that Shakespeare had, and knew exactly what to do about it. The audience was deeply appreciative of both music and performance, as any audience would have been. Matchavariani thoroughly deserves a more prominent place in the classical canon. By Rumwold Leigh. "Messenger". 17.11.2008.
HATS OFF GENTLEMEN. On 30 October internationally famous Georgian conductor Vakhtang Machavariani gave a concert of the work of Mussorgsky,Prokofiev and his father Aleksi Machavariani at Tbilisi Music Centre. .............................. It was a risk devoting the second half of the programme to Aleksi Machavariani's music for the ballet "The Taming of the Shrew",particulary as it was the world premiere of this piece. It is a substantial work,certainly not incidental music,and in a way it was unfortunate that this was the premiere,as it will repay considerable future study. It grabs the audience from the first however,and in an unusual way.The first bars declare "Watch out,watch out,there's a shrew about",and you never know how seriously to take what is being said throughout. It is very difficult to maintain such a tone for any length of time without being misunderstood,but this music and this performance pulled this off,in an excellent rendering of the light comedy of Shakespeare's play.Within a short while you know that this is going to be the highlight of the show.The orchestration is flawless and very satisfying for the performers,who each have a considerable part and plenty to say, the music darting around from one section to another like a gymnast flinging himself about on the rings.The deeply suggestive tempo,the musical equivalent of rapidly raising eyebrows,is maintained even in the more solemn parts,when the consequences of all the jollity are reflected on,but nothing gets in the way of the fundamental triumph of fun when the shrew is tamed,but into a wiser shrew,at the end. Like all bloodthirsty reviewers you wait for the misplaced effect,mistiming,failure of expres- sion,wrong choice or misplaced note in this piece.In this music,and this performance of it, this reviewer waited in vain.The piece is brilliant,like the way it was played,but it has far greater substance than a work which has brilliance alone.When you write reviews people tell you not to be too positive or negative because people will think it is a put up job.If this newspaper wants to sack me for telling the truth,let it. If Russia wants to start another war and Georgia can choose its weapon,it should choose the music of Aleksi Machavariani. By Rumwold Leigh. "Messenger". 03.11.2009.
Matchavariani the man with the answers. Georgian music lovers commemorated the 95th birthday of famous Georgian composer Alexi Matchavariani at a concert held at Tbilisi musical centre on November 14. The Georgia National Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Vakhtang Matchavariani, his son, a conductor widely experienced and respected in Europe. The concert began with Matchavariani's Third Symphonic Suit from the ballet Othello. This was first performed in 1957 at the Tbilisi State Opera, and swiftly achieved international recognition, being staged in many cities worldwide. On the basis of the music alone, you can see why. Matchavariani's music turns this on its head, by combining this with a warm lyricism and deep devotion to music itself which puts this intellectualism into context. Yes, that part of life exists, but we all have a fundamental humanity, expressed through soaring violin lines, superb orchestration and organic harmony and counterpoint. People did seem to be a bit taller after hearing this music, and seeing how Vakhtang Matchavariani instilled the sense of the importance of this work, that it had a universality beyond 'interpretation'. The second half of the concert was the premiere of symphonic suite The Taming of the Shrew. This was a thoroughly enjoyable romp, Shakespeare's Shrew reappearing in a motif when least expected, emotion suddenly leavened by playfulness, argument dissolving into the drama that had created it. This is was what Shakespeare would have composed himself, as Matchavariani clearly had the same connection with truth that Shakespeare had, and knew exactly what to do about it. The audience was deeply appreciative of both music and performance, as any audience would have been. Matchavariani thoroughly deserves a more prominent place in the classical canon. By Rumwold Leigh. "Messenger". 17.11.2008.

Herr Wachtang Matschawariani ist ein Dirigent von hohen Graden. Seine Persönlichkeit, seine starke musikalische Ausdruckskraft, sowie die profunde Dirigiertechnik sind besonders bemerkenswert. Herr Matschawariani ist ein Dirigent, der durch seine hohe ethische Gesinnung seinem Vaterland auch im Ausland alle Ehre machen würde. Karl Österreicher ------------------------------------------ July lst, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN An audition was arranged, where Mr. Matchawariani conducted the “Freischütz” – Ouverture with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. From what I could assertain in the very short time given Mr. Matchawariani, he seems to have a conducting gift and he showed solid musicianship. He is certainly worthy of any support and help in his affort to develop his career. Lorin Maazel --------------------------------------- 19 November 1998 I have followed Mr. Matchavariani’s career with interest for some time now and must say that he is a most remarkable, unique musician and artistic personality. His skills have produced some extraordinary concert and recording experiences. Kevin Kleinmann Vice President International Classics Marketing PolyGram International, London -------------------------------- 20th May 1996 Dear Mr. Matchavariani I am very pleased to write on behalf of the Philarmonia Orchestra. The Orchestra enjoyed working with you and areconfident that you have much to contribute to such a position. Your musicianship and professionalism will ensure leadership of the highest quality. David Whelton MANAGING DIRECTOR Philarmonia Orchestra London -------------------------------- 28 June 1996 I have known Mr. Matchavariani for many years now and have been privileged to attend a number of his concerts and recordings, which impressed me very much. It is many opinion that he is a very musical artist who undoubtedly possesses much originality together with supreme talent. His musicianship is unquestionably of the highest quality. Ivo Pogorelich -------------------------------- 2nd November 1998 Maestro Matchavariani has excellent conducting credentials. He has conducted both the Royal Philarmonic and Philarmonia in London and the result were excellent. The BBC Concert Orchestra –London Ian Maclay, General Manager -------------------------------- 31 May 2000 Dear Vakhtang, Your orchestra played the difficult Mahler 7th Symphony magnificently with a love, passion and commitment one rarely sees. Surely this is a reflection and tribute to your leadership and to the depth of your musical influence as maestro. You have managed to mold a special music making tradition in Georgia. Kent Nagano ------------------------------