Ensemble Rustavi

Bio:

Ensemble was created in 1968 by Anzor Erkomaishvili, a singer and folklorist from a distinguished Georgian musical lineage that goes back seven generations. Since its formation Rustavi has successfully toured more than 50 countries of the world, always receiving the most glowing comments – even from the toughest of critics. Songs and dances for work and war, spectacular costumes, the unique Georgian style of polyphonic singing and rich voices characterize the Rustavi Choir. Their intense sacred hymns with their overlapping, continuously moving harmonies are spellbinding. Rustavi is also performing a high-quality comprising national and diverse traditional dances. Excellent costumes, brilliant performance, and elaborate choreography. Erkomaishvili's vision was to break through ethnic boundaries of regional styles while performing ethnographically authentic music from all of Georgia. The Rustavi's performance style synthesizes the powerful, rough-hewn sound characteristic of the traditional regional folk choirs with a newer, cleaner, more finely-honed aesthetic whose orientation is towards concert presentation - nowadays on an increasingly international scale. While striving to preserve, and in some cases recreate, authentic voicings and vocal timbres, the Rustavi singers have simplified the complex scales used by the earlier choirs in order to create firmer, more brilliant harmonies. The use of a smaller number of Singers for certain songs has also helped to clarify their musical structure. This is an ensemble, where Hamlet Gonashvili, the brilliance of the world folk music and "the voice of Georgia" made his flamboyant career. The singers of Rustavi have mastered and developed to the utmost extent the unique art of synchronous improvisation which is diversely displayed in the polyphonic songs of different regions of Georgia. The quality and vocal character of each singer in Georgian part-singing is extremely important in conveying the spirit of Georgian folk music, which is characterized by specific color, timbre, and individuality. Each singer of Rustavi choir is endowed with this particular vocal national folk tone-color, and each of them has a fine command that highly specific manner of singing found throughout Georgia. Rustavi has successfully toured more than 60 countries of the world, performing about 5000 concerts, always receiving the most glowing comments – even from the toughest of critics. Rustavi’s performances include such major world venues as Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall (The UK), Olympia, Zenith, Mogador (France), Herodes Atticus on the Acropolis, Ancient Olympic Stadium in Olympia (Greece), Les Etoiles(Monaco), NAC Opera, North Bay Arts Centre (Canada), Carnegie Hall, Beacon Theatre, Civic Opera House (the US), Aspendos, Konyaalti (Turkey), Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Frits Philips Eindhoven (The Netherlands) Wiener Konzerthaus (Austria), Roppongi Hills Garden Arena (Japan), Moscow International House of Music, St.Petersbourg Conservatory Grand Concert Hall, P.Tchaikovski Concert Hall (Russia) and many more concerts in Sweden, Yugoslavia and African countries. The ensemble has performed and recorded 640 folk songs, 10 LP’s and 10 CD’s. The ensemble’s craftsmanship is a deeply rooted one; its source is folk music, the mastery of folk performance. Rustavi is genetically linked with this source, deriving special energy and evolving from it.

Member Since:

January 21, 2009