Giya Kancheli

• Giya Kancheli’s soundworld possesses something uncommonly natural and timeless, simultaneously both modern and archaic
• offers a passionate response to the fate of his Georgian homeland and the suffering of the people through historic events, many of which accompanied his own life and inspired him to create works
• the atmosphere of his music is often created by sweeping sound spectra, deeply moving for their sensuality and subliminal religiosity
• works are often marked by death, mourning and loss
• in some of his pieces, the composer sought a new simplicity, albeit through complex means
• works combine the polyphonic melos of traditional Georgian chants with modern components of the Western avant-garde, often shaking the listener to their core
• conductors such as Jansug Kakhidze, Andrey Boreyko and Dennis Russell Davies, as well as the violinist and ensemble leader of the Kremerata Baltica, Gidon Kremer, have championed Kancheli’s music all over the world
• the ECM label has produced definitive recordings of many of Kancheli's works

Works by Giya Kancheli include:
Magnum Ignotum or wind ensemble, double bass and tape (1994)
Mourned by the wind liturgy for orchestra and solo viola (1989)
Styx for viola, choir and orchestra (1999)
Music for the Living opera in two acts (1983)

Works by Giya Kancheli are published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski

Looking Ahead: 90th anniversary on 10 August 2025

“The silence in the audience after a work has faded away is perhaps the best way to appreciate my works”. — Giya Kancheli