Nana Jashvili 2012

August 27, 2012.  Nana Jashvili, a friend of the site, is a violin virtuoso recognized by the press and critics for the emotional intensity and the profound lyricism of her playing.  Nana’s musical ability was developed under the influence of two cultures, Georgian and Russian.  She was born in Tbilisi into a musical family.  Her father, Luarsab Jashvili, a violinist and violist, was a professor at the Tbilisi Conservatory.  He was Nana’s first teacher.  Nana’s older sister, Marina Jashvili (Yashvili), who also took her first lessons with her father, became a famous violinist and a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.  Marina died on July 9 of this year at the age of 79 after a long illness, and we mourn her passing.

After studying with her father, Nana moved to Moscow and entered the class of the great violinist Leonid Kogan at the Moscow conservatory.  As a student she won several national competitions.  Then, at the age of seventeen, she had her triumphant breakthrough when she won the "Premier Grand Prix" at the International Jacques Thibaud Competition, the youngest winner ever.  She was also awarded the "Prix Special" for the best interpretation of Maurice Ravel's "Tzigane."  Several years later she also won the "Concours International de Montreal."  Since then Nana has given concerts in the great music capitals in Europe, Canada and Japan.  She has appeared as a soloist with the Concertgebouw orchestra of Amsterdam, the Gewandhaus orchestra of Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Orchestre de Paris and the Moscow and Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestras.  She has worked with many great conductors, such as Claudio Abbado, Karl Böhm, Kurt Masur, Neeme Järvi, Yehudi Menuhin, Valerie Gergiev, Pavel Kogan, and Jansug Kakhidze.  Nana Jashvili is a welcome guest artist on the concert stages at the summer festivals of Vienna, Bregenz and Copenhagen.  Her repertoire extends from the Baroque to the contemporary.  Her interpretation of the violin concerto op.36 by Schoenberg at the Vienna state opera was celebrated as an exceptional event.  Nana is a professor at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen.  She plays a Nicola Gagliano violin.

Nana Jashvili’s recordings in our library suffer from many transfers from one media to another.  Still, we’re sure that you’ll enjoy several of them.  Here’s Béla Bartók’s Six Romanian Folk Dances.  Tchaikovsky’s Valse Scherzo in C Major is here.  Finally, the complete F-A-E Sonata, written by Albert Dietrich, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, can be heard here.  In all performances Nana is accompanied by the pianist Vladimir Skanavi.  We hope to bring you more and better quality recordings in the near future.