Gori Women's Choir

History

The choir was formed in 1970 as a girls' choir of the music college by Sh. Mosidze, unchanged Artistic Director and Chief Conductor, and A. Kacharava, College Director. The initial modest college tasks were soon replaced by artistic and creative ones. The original manner of the choir, its high professional level and performing excellence won it a reputation of one of the best European ensembles among the specialists. The peculiar conducting style and intensive work of its Director Shalva Mosidze has turned the choir into a brilliant instrument, performing, as it were, effortlessly extremely difficult, polyphonic, harmonic and sonorous structures. The group is noted for perfect intonation, exquisite phrasing and rich timbre palette. It can cope with any technical and creative task, to sing a work of any time and national style in accordance with the artistic will of the conductor.
The choir performs a diverse repertoire, embracing medieval, Classical-Romantic and contemporary music, special attention is given to works of Georgian composers – Aleksi Machavariani, Otar Taktakishvili, Jemal Beglarishvili, Giorgi Chlaidze, and Merab Gagnidze.
For more than 3 decades of its existence, extensive concert touring has been one of the key activities of the choir. The group has participated in numerous international choir festivals and competitions, singing in Ireland, Malta, Russia, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia, Hungary, Spain, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Japan, France, and Great Britain. In 1986 the choir received the Bela Bartok Competition Prize (Debrezen, Hungary) and in 1989 the Marktoberdorf (Germany) International Choir Music Competition Award. In 1989 it became a member of the European Federation of Youth Choirs "Europe-Cantata".
The choir of universal recognition is the main centre of musical culture of its native town. Its existence led to the foundation of the International Choir Music Festival in Gori.