Giya Kancheli - Sevda

Composer Giya Kancheli is the most important Georgian composer of the past 50 years, and one of the most significant international composers of the past century. He is noted for the strong dramatic structure of his ambitious orchestral works, many of which contain deeply spiritual themes. His richly textured music is imbued with influences from Georgian folk music, American jazz, and twentieth-century Russian composers, with musical phrasings that alternate between sparse and climactic. Along with other Soviet-era composers such as Arvo Part, Erkki-Sven Tuur, Alfred Schnittke, and Sophia Gubaidulina, Kancheli was determined to dramatize the oppression endured by artists under Soviet rule, while finding solace and strength in spirituality. Kancheli was born on August 10, 1935, in Tbilisi, Georgia. Originally intending to study geology at Tbilisi University, he switched to music instead, attending Tbilisi Conservatory from 1959-63 and receiving a state stipend for his academic accomplishments. In 1962 he