Tbilisi State Opera and Ballet Theatre Symphony  Orchestra

Soloist – Zeynep Ucbasaran
Conductor – Vakhtang Matchavariani

Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Overture from opera “Don Giovanni
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Overture from opera “Le nozze di Figaro”
”Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Overture from opera “Die Zauberflöte”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 20, d moll,  K. 466

Zeynep Ucbasaran (Piano)

Pianist Zeynep Ucbasaran was born in Istanbul, Turkey. 
She entered the Istanbul Conservatory at age four - one of the youngest ever to be admitted.
In 1987 Ucbasaran started her studies in the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where she worked with Prof. Zempleni Kornel, Prof. Katalin Nemes (pupil of Bela Bartok), Balazs Kecskes, and Prof. Istvan Lantos. After obtaining her Teacher and Concert Artist Diploma in 1994, she continued her studies with Prof. Dr. Tibor Szasz in Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg, Germany and obtained her Diploma in Aufbaustudium I. 
She has her advanced graduate degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles: MA (2000), DMA (2004). 
Zeynep Ucbasaran has given solo recitals and concerts in Turkey, Egypt, Hungary, England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Belarus, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, and the United States in addition to several chamber music performances. 
Among other professional awards such as the American Liszt Society Award, Ucbasaran was a prize-winner in the 1996 and 2000 Los Angeles Liszt Competitions. She was designated a "woman of distinction in the year 2003" by the Daughters of Ataturk organization in the US.  
She has recorded for Eroica Classical Recordings the music of Franz Liszt (Santa Barbara Liszt Album, 2001) and (Liszt/Sonata in B minor, 2003), Franz Schubert (Virtuoso Schubert, 2002) works of W. A. Mozart (Mozart, 2005) and Scarlatti through twentieth-century composers (Scarlatti/Beethoven/Saygun/Bernstein/Muczynski, 2005) to critical acclaim. She recorded another  collection of Mozart sonatas for Eroica in  2007 (Mozart, 2007). Her recording of piano works of the Turkish composer A. Adnan Saygun was issued by Naxos International in April 2008 (Piano Music of  A. Ahmet Saygun, 2008).  She has brought of her complete cycle of Mozart sonatas to a close by two double CDs for Eroica in 2008 (Mozart: Early Sonatas, 2008), (Mozart: Early Sonatas, 2008). She has also recorded selections of two piano music for Eroica with pianist Sergio Gallo in 2008 (Music for Two Pianos, 2008). 
Since 1996 she has been living in Santa Barbara, California. 
 

"An agreeable elegance pervades pianist Zeynep Ucbasaran's playing.."  The Gramophone
"As a Mozart player, Ucbasaran touches the sublime.."   All Music Guide
"Ucbasaran’s strong suit is her clean articulation girded by a powerful sonority.."   Audiophile Audition
"Consummate Mastery - ... an art of crystalline clarity.."  Music & Vision
 "The Turkish pianist gives us objective performances of clarity, sharp detail, rhythmic vitality, and integrity.."  American Record Guide
 

Vakhtang Matchavariani
Vakhtang Matchavariani, an already diploma-certified pianist, has mastered the conductor’s art in Tbilisi Conservatoire under the leadership of O. Dimitriadi, and in Moscow Conservatoire, under the leadership of G. Rozhdenstvenki. He graduated from Vienna Musical Academy under the guidance of Osterreiher. In the same period he has passed practices with one of the greatest conductor of the modern times, the artistic leader of Vienna Opera, Lorin Maazel. The latter then wrote in his letter of recommendation: “After Vakhtang Matchavariani has conducted Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, I can declare that he has the conductor’s talent and is worth of good support.”
Upon his graduation from the studies in Vienna Vakhtan Matchavariani was invited as conductor of Mari Theatre in St. Petersburg.
Vakhtang Matchavariani conducted various spectacles and events in opera theatres of Russia, Latvia, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the Great Britain.
In 1990 he founded and manned by musicians of leading orchestras of Russia the Soviet Festival Orchestra (later, Moscow Festival Orchestra), and remained its artistic leader and chief conductor until 2000.
Since 1996 Vakhtang Matchavariani has become the artistic leader of the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Georgia and its chief conductor. With the orchestra, he held concerts in Holland, In Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, and in Germany.
In his initiative, Tbilisi audience has seen Bonn Philharmonic group, the famous violinist Ivri Gitlis, and one of the greatest conductors of modernity, Kent Nagano. Later Nagano has written such a letter to Vakhtan Matchavariani: “My dear Vakhtang, your orchestra has performed Mahler’s 7th Symphony brilliantly. This was the performance full of love, inspiration and self-devotion, which is a rare phenomenon. It is obvious that this fact reflects of your leadership and your deep musical influence. You have succeeded to create a special musical tradition in Georgia.”
In 2000 Vakhtang Matchavariani has also become the artistic leader of Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of Russia, named Millennium. Vakhtang Matchavariani collaborates with more than 80 orchestras, amongst them: London Royal Philharmonic, Manchester, Stuttgart State, Belgium National orchestras, leading orchestras of Germany, National Orchestra of France, St. Petersburg and Moscow Philharmonic Orchestras, etc.
Vakhtang Matchavariani has made concerts in the UK, France, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Israel, Denmark, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, etc.
With Vakhtang Matchavariani as conductor, there were realized the premieres of Alexi Matchavariani’s following works: “Vepkhistkaosani,’ symphonies ## 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, symphonic suite “Hamlet,” performance of the first act of the opera “Hamlet” in the form of intervals, ballet “Taming of the Shrewd,” concert performance of the opera “Medea,” concerto for cello and orchestra, and various chamber pieces.
Some of Alexi Matchavarianis pieces of work were recorded as a result of his collaboration with the firm “Melodia”.
With his name there are connected premieres and performances of many pieces of work in Tbilisi, amongst them, Verdi’s Falstaff, Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s castle,” Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra,” “Death and illumination,” “Four last songs,” Mahler’s symphonies #5 and #7 and a cycle on V. Ruckert’s words, Brahms’ German Requiem, Britten’s “Phaedra,” Walton’s symphony #2, Nein’s symphonies #3 and #4, Johann Strauss’ several works, etc.
Recently there have been published three compact disks, on which, with Vakhtang Matchavariani conducting, there is recorded the pieces of Beethoven, Berlios, Mahler, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Alexi Matchavariani.

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