Famous Georgian pianist, composer, conductor and artist. Born in 1941 August 21 in the family of Andria Balanchivadze, a prominent Georgian composer. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where his teachers were the famous musicians Lev Oborin and Maria Yudina. Since early childhood, he has been engaged in active concert work, on the one hand as a solo performer, as well as with the chamber orchestra “Orfeo” he formed. This orchestra was later named after Andria Balanchivadze.
For years, he cooperated with the famous German philanthropist, Wolfgang Fricke, the founder of the creative-therapeutic center “Melchiorsgrund”. He had a long cooperation with impresario Royce Heinz, the representative of the city Radeformwalde, twinned with Georgia. During his tour in this city, Jarji Balanchivadze was awarded the title of honorary citizen. The society “Georgia of Orfeo” was founded in Germany as a circle of friends supporting the art of Jarji Balanchivadze, who organized his concerts and exhibitions in various European countries.
Jarji Balanchivadze’s name is associated with many concerts and exhibitions in Georgia, Hungary, Germany, Holland and Italy. About 400 of his works are kept in private collections in different countries. The German art critic Karl Heinz Denecke called his distinct artistic style “personal mythology”. Jarji Balanchivadze’s painting played a special role during the end of the “social realism” of the Soviet Union, when his works appeared before the Georgian audience. A large part of his life and creativity is also connected with stage productions. He established and led the “Synthetic Theater”, where he combined various media of art and where music played a leading role. His name is associated with the creation of the “Detempered piano”, an instrument that allowed him to write works with a unique sound, completely different from the old temperament. Jarji Balanchivadze used new methods and approaches in his work on color as well as in relation to pianism, stage movement-choreography, recitative, composing and vocal fields.
His free style, colorfulness, lightness, innovative views on artistic creativity influenced many Georgian artists, both during his lifetime and after.