The UTC Music Department will present a concert with the UTC Orchestra, directed by Jooyong Ahn, and featuring Salome Jordania, guest pianist, and Giorgi Jordania, guest conductor. The performance will take place in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall at the UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St., Thursday, March 21, at 7:30 p.m.  The program features Franz Schubert’s “Symphony in B minor” Unfinished Symphony and Robert Schumann’s “Piano Concerto in A minor.” The performance is presented free of charge and open to the general public.

Franz Schubert started composing his Unfinished Symphony in 1822 but failed to complete it after finishing two movements and sketching a third. Though the reason is not known, it is tempting to speculate why he would have abandoned what was certainly his most ambitious symphony. This piece most certainly demonstrates the composer’s highly developed skills as a songwriter and is sometimes called the first Romantic symphony, due to its emphasis on expressive melody, vivid harmony, and creative combinations of orchestral tone color.  Robert Schumann’s famous romantic concerto, “Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54” was completed in 1845 and premiered in Leipzig in 1846.  It had evolved from a previous major work from 1841, “Fantaisie in A minor for piano and orchestra”, which has ultimately disappeared from the repertoire, into the first movement of the composer’s “Piano Concerto in A minor”.  The shifting moods that characterize so much of Schumann’s work are clearly evident in this work and showcase thematic unity among movements.  

Giorgi Jordania is the general and artistic director of Tbilisi State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. An alumnus of UTC, he completed his Masters under the tutelage of renowned conductor Vakhtang Jordania while working as assistant conductor. His professional American debut was with the Chattanooga Symphony. Since then, he has conducted numerous symphony concerts and was appointed principal guest conductor of the Kharkov State Academic Theatre as well as Kharkov Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991. He was also chief coductor of the Georgian State Chamber Orchestra from 1999-2003. His accolades include Laureate of the First Prize and the winner of the Grand-Prix of the "New Millennium first International Competition of Conductors" and Laureate of the prestigious "State Prize of Georgia", both in 2001. He has been regularly invited to various competitions since 2002 and has served as jury member of the Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition. He also founded another festival, in 2008, the Tbilisi Easter Art festival and became its Artistic Director and General Manager.

Salome Jordania started her music education in 2003 at Art Gymnasium and quickly started participating in every concert arranged by the school both with the symphony and as a soloist. She has performed world-wide and has received numerous accolades for her performance including being bestowed the title “Cultural Ambassador of Georgia” by the mayor of Tbilisi and Laureate of the Young Pianist’s Chopin International Competition in Tbilisi. She has received several invitations for concerts and master classes in Italy, Switzerland and Poland, and was invited to play on Chopin’s personal piano in a special Jubilee Concert. Most recently, she was invited to Moscow, Russia and to Erevan, Armania.

For more information contact the Music office at 425-4601 or visit http://utc.edu/music.