Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra

Jansug Kakhidze (1935–2002) founded the orchestra in 1993 and conducted it until his death. He had already given Tbilisi a home for symphonic music, establishing in 1989 the centre for music and culture that now carries his name and remains the orchestra's hall. Kakhidze's programmes took the Georgian repertoire abroad — above all the music of Giya Kancheli, whose scores he championed from the beginning — alongside the Russian and Central European classics, and his readings earned him a nickname in the press he never quite shook off. His son Vakhtang Kakhidze, a composer as well as a conductor, has continued the work.