Otar Taktakishvili

Otar Taktakishvili (1924–1989) was a prominent Georgian composer, teacher, conductor, and musicologist of the Soviet period. He was born and grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia, in a musical family. From a young age, the composer showed great musical promise, and started piano lessons with Tamara V. Bagrationi. He subsequently studied with several piano educators including Militsa K. Korius, Anastasia D. Virasladze, and Evgenia Vasilievna Cherniavskaia. Soon after entering the conservatory in 1942, while Georgia was at war with Nazi Germany, Taktakishvili composed the Anthem of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Taktakishvili studied at the Tbilisi Conservatory under Aleksandr Gauk, Sergei V. Barchudarian and Andria Balanchivadze. The composer's early influences were Georgian folk music, composers of the classical era, e.g. Mozart, J.S. Bach and Beethoven, and more modern composers, including Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich. In his senior year, Taktakishvili had the opportunity to study with Dmitri Shostakovich, and that led to a long-standing collaboration and friendship. While still a student at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, Taktakishvili composed the Anthem of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. By 1949, he became a Professor of the Conservatory, as well as the conductor and artistic director of the Georgian State Chorus. In 1951, he received his first Stalin Prize (USSR State Prize) for his First Symphony. In 1962, Taktakishvili became Chairman of the Georgian Composers' Union; and in 1965, the Minister for Culture of the Georgian Republic, until 1983. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1974, the Lenin Prize in 1982, and the USSR State Prize in 1951, 1952 and 1967. Throughout his career, he also served as a member of the international musical committee of UNESCO, and twice headed the electoral committee for the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.