Violist Giorgi Zagareli Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1986. Studied viola at Tbilisi, Detmold, Leipzig and Basel Musik Hochschules.
As a soloist Giorgi Zagareli has cooperated with Estonian State Symphony Orchestra, Basel festival Orchestra, Leipzig youth Orchestra, Rijeka Opera Symphony Orchestra, Tallin Youth String Orchestra, Pärnu Symphony Orchestra, Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra, Azerbaijan State Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of National Philharmonic of Ukraine, as well as with Tbilisi Symphony, Georgian Sinfonietta, Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra and Trinity Men's Choir.
Giorgi has performed with such a famous artist as Gidon Kremer, Natalia Gutman, Andres Mustonen, Ariel Zuckermann, Marine Iashvili, Kola Blacher, Boris Andrianov, Alexander Buzlov, Giedre Dirvanauskaite, Ksenia Bashmet, Andreas Zlabys, Mikhail Muntian, Anita Rachvelishvili, Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi etc. He has also performed for and shared stage with international ballet star Nino Ananiashvili.
In 2014 he has recorded Giya Kancheli's “Miniatures for Viola and Piano” with Nikoloz Rachveli as dedicatees.
He is the first to have executed works for viola by Berio, Feldman, Xenakis, Stravinsky, Penderecki, Ligeti, Pärt, Kancheli and Mansurian in Georgia. Giorgi Zagareli world-premiered Sulkhan Nasidze’s Viola Concerto (1987) with the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008. He also premiered young Georgian composer Zviad Bolkvadze’s “In Memoriam“ (for Viola, Soprano, Men's Choir and Orchestra) commissioned by the National Music Center of Georgia and composed for him especially. And, together with Tigran Mansurian in person, also performed the Georgian premiere of the Armenian composer’s “Arias” for Viola and Piano.
In January 2016 Giorgi Zagareli received Georgia’s most prominent state prize, the Tsinandali Award, for his brilliant performance of Giya Kancheli’s “Styx” with Nikoloz Rachveli and Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra at the Young Euro Classic Festival at Berlin Konzerthaus in August 2015.
Since 2019 Giorgi Zagareli is a guest solo violist of Grammy-Award winning chamber orchestra “Kremerata Baltica” led by Gidon Kremer.
In 2017 Giorgi Zagareli formed the string orchestra Zagreli & Strings. The ensemble cooperates with post minimalist, live electronic, Ambient, Hip-Hop and classical music artists, and performed in the frame of the Festivals: Black Sea Jazz Fest, Tbilisi Open Air, River Bank Festival-Frankfurt, Sofar Sounds, Artarea festival, etc.
Giorgi Zagareli's recent highlights include collaborations with Alexander Kordzaia a.k.a. Kordz, KayaKata, Nika Machaidze a.k.a. Nikakoi, Natalie TBA Beridze, Frederic Robinson, Anushka Chkheidze, Tete Noise, vazhmarr and Nika Kocharov.