Emotional Solo Piano Evening by LSMU Exchange Student Gigi Gorgadze

On June 19 LSMU community was invited to a solo piano evening by Gigi Gorgadze, an LSMU exchange student from Tbilisi State Medical University, Georgia. The event took place at the beautiful LSMU Emanuel Levin Center. Even though LSMU had many exchange students since the Erasmus programme was first implemented in 1999, this was the first time when an exchange student organized an event for all of those who love music. This was Gigi’s way of saying thank you for the opportunity to study at LSMU and for all the support that he received.

Although Gigi had participated in more than 50 concerts and was a winner of various competitions, he had never held his own solo concert because it takes a lot of courage and self-confidence to perform for an hour on your own. However, with full support of prof. Ingrida Janulevičienė, the Dean of International Relations and Study Centre (TRSC), and Ms. Žydrė Vengalytė, the international programme coordinator, as well as lots of encouragement from his fellow Erasmus students and friends, Gigi decided to organize his first solo concert in Kaunas. At 6 pm the hall was already full of festively dressed professors, students, and administrative staff. Invited to the stage with applause, the young pianist started the concert with a 4-piece musical composition “Four seasons of the year”, that Gigi composed himself.  The pieces “Spring Memories”, “Summer Nocturne”, “Autumn Waltz” and “Winter Ballade”, effortlessly played one after another, evoked the memories of a gentle breeze in spring, a thundery night in summer, a waltz of falling leaves in autumn and a merciless blizzard in cold winter…

Since the concert was held in the former French Embassy, ​​now the Emanuel Levin Conference and Culture Center of LSMU, Gigi as a tribute to the building and to the philosopher E. Levin, who spent most of his life in France, continued his concert by playing the pieces by two famous French composers: Michel Legrand’s composition from the film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourgh ” and Charlie Aznavour’s song “She”, which is best known from the famous film “Notting Hill”. During this performance, the exchange student surprised everyone by not just skillfully playing the piano, but also by singing. Quietly, softly, as if to himself, as if to the audience, sharing the story of a special, unnamed woman “She”.

After this performance, the Gigi briefly got up from the piano chair and recited a poem by the famous Georgian poet Galaktion Tabidze:

“Whirls the wind, whirls the wind, whirls the wind
And the leaves whirl from wind still to wind…
Rows of trees, lines of trees bend in arch,
Where art thou, where art thou, why so far?..
How it rains, how it snows, how it snows,
Where to find, where to find… Never know!
But pursued, but pursued by your eyes
All the time, everywhere, every time!..
Distant skies drizzle thoughts mixed with mist…
Whirls the wind, whirls the wind, whirls the wind!

The young man said that these verses were translated into English by Prof. Innes Merabishvili, who is not only a professor of Philology at the Georgian National Academy of Sciences, but also a prominent researcher of Lord Byron’s work. Once, during her visit to the Madame Tussauds Museum, Prof. I. Merabishvili saw a sculpture of a dancing Napoleon and thought, what would a dancing Lord Byron look like? When the professor returned home, even though not a composer herself, she created a composition for the piano “Waltz – Byron”. Even though this piece should be performed by two people, the young pianist was adamant to play it for the LSMU audience during his solo concert.

In honor of the bright memory of the famous Georgian composer Vazha Azarashvili, Gigi added two of his works to his repertoire: “Sentimental Tango” and “Nostalgy”. The latter piece Vazha Azarashvili once dedicated to his departed friend, but during his solo concert, Gigi played it in memory of the composer himself who sadly passed away at the beginning of this year.

In the middle of the concert Gigi surprised everyone by introducing a guest perfomer, another LSMU exchange student, Rukhiya Tolegen, who sang a beautiful Ukrainian song “Trimai“, accompanied by Gigi playing the piano. The students dedicated the song to Ukraine and to their Ukrainian Erasmus friends. This beautiful gesture and Rukhiya’s soft voice filled the hearts of the listeners with warmth and peace.

After Rukhiya’s performance, the young man continued the concert by playing several works of his favorite actor, director and composer Charlie Chaplin, as well as Frank Sinatra’s well-known songs: “My way”, “New York, New York”, “Fly me to the moon”, “Love”. In the audience, one was able to see the restless listeners who couldn’t help but sway to the beat of the melody when the pianist moved from one song to another in a virtuoso manner.

Invited to the stage again, Rukhiya this time sang in Lithuanian. The well-known song “Red evenings”, performed by a girl from Kazakhstan during a solo concert of a Georgian student, whose audience members were from various countries, once again showed that music has the power to bring together the most diverse cultures.

Perhaps the biggest round of applause Gigi received for the temperamental interpretation of Frank Listz’s piece “Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2”. The pianist played with such power and such passion for music that left the audience short for words! Gigi’s performance ended with the song “Tbilisi” by Revaz Lagidze, which the exchange student played and also sang in two languages: in his native Georgian and in Russian.

After the concert, the young man sincerely thanked everyone present. The student joked that after this evening even if he tried he will never be able to erase Lithuania from his memory because it was in this country that his first solo concert took place. Gigi said a special “thank you” to TRSC dean Prof. I. Janulevičienė, to the Head of the Ophthalmology Clinic, prof. R. Žemaitienė and prof. V. Jašinskas and Assoc. a. Gelžinis, as well as the Head of the E. Levinas Center I. Krasauskiene, TRSC international programme coordinator Ž. Vengalytė, the dormitory administrator I. Babušė, and to fellow exchange students of LSMU. All the participants of the event left with smiles on their faces. It is safe to say that the concert was a success and exceeded everyone’s expectations. Thank you, Gigi and Rukhiya, for a great gift to the LSMU community!