Bolkvadze Elisso

Elisso Bolkvadze (b. January 2, 1967, Tbilisi) is a pianist, laureate of the State Prize of Georgia (1993). She is the winner of international piano competitions: International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition (Leipzig, 1984), Vianna da Motta International Music Competition (Lisbon, Portugal, 1987), Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Fort Worth, USA, 1989) and others. She received the “Special Prize” for the best interpretation of French music at the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition (1995, Paris).

In 1989, she graduated from the Tbilisi State Conservatoire and completed postgraduate studies under the guidance of Professor T. Amirejibi. In 1992–1995, she was a teacher at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire. Starting from 1995, she studied in France at the invitation of the famous musician and impresario Michel Sogny. In 2013, she founded the Charity Foundation Lyra, which supports young talented Georgian pianists. In the same year, she founded the Batumi International Festival of Classical Music (she is the artistic director of the festival).

She lived and worked in Austria, in the Villa Schindler.

Bolkvadzen is regularly invited to the prestigious halls of the world, for solo concerts, as well as with orchestras. She has recorded albums that include works by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt. In 2015, a German company released her album with works by Schubert and Prokofiev, for which she was awarded the honorary title of “Maestro Pianist”. The French national channel filmed a full-length documentary about Bolkvadze's work in Georgia and France.

In 2015, she was awarded the title of “UNESCO Artist for Peace” and was awarded Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

She has received the Order of Honor of Georgia (2018) for the promotion of Georgian culture and her creative activity.

Since 2020, she has been a member of the Parliament of Georgia, and since 2021, she has been the Chairman of its Committee for Culture.