Atelier 448
Die georgische Komponistin, Pianistin und Sängerin Russudan Meipariani verbindet klassische Tradition und georgische Polyphonie mit Elementen der Neuen Musik. Mit Stimm-Experimenten, präpariertem Klavier und Toy-Piano schafft sie eine eigenwillige, einzigartige Klangwelt, in der sich Archaisches und Zeitgenössisches authentisch und unerhört verbinden. Bei ihrem Soloprojekt „Night Songs from an old city“singt sie in georgischer Sprache Gedichte von Galaktion Tabidze (1891-1958), einem der bedeutendsten georgischen Dichter. Seine Lyrik ist zugleich sehr persönlich wie überzeitlich, voll Sehnsucht und Dunkelheit. Seine Worte inspirierten Russudan Meipariani beim Komponieren durch ihre ganz eigenen Farben und erinnerten sie an die Stimmung im nächtlichen Tiflis.
Neben Liedern aus “Nights from an old city” wird sie auch Kompositionen aus ihrem neuesten Programm zur Uraufführung bringen.
Russudan Meipariani was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. Starting with piano playing quite early, she grew up with classical music and with Georgian polyphonic singing as well. Russudan finished musical college in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The civil war ushered in difficult times in Georgia, but for Russudan it meant the beginning of an intense time of diving into music: doing classical piano studies in the conservatory and at the same time exploring her own voice, composing, and developing alternative pop, rock and punk music. As part of a small underground composers group, she heard Stockhausen, Xenakis, Cage and others for the first time.
After finishing her piano studies, she decided to leave the country and follow her sister to Germany, where she started to study composition with Wolfgang Rihm and Sandeep Bhagwati, absorbing a lot of contemporary and world music as well. The next step is a year as an exchange student in Oslo. It was a very inspiring year as she became familiar with Scandinavian music and played with Norwegian musicians and lived on an isthmus close to Oslo. After returning to Germany, she wrote a lot of vocal music – with minimalistic instrumentation – exploring the possibilities, timbres and vocal expression in an onomatopoeic way. Most of this music has been released as "Lieder aus einer Insel" ("Songs from an Island"). In 2019 she released her solo album "Night Songs from an Old City" for prepared piano, toy piano and voice. This album is a kind of memory of the last years she spent in Tbilisi before moving to Germany.
Russudan always stayed connected to classical music, was a cofounder of the classical Daphioni Piano Trio, and at the same time remained open to and curious about an other musical directions and traditions. She was a cofounder of a freak-folk duo Veli Ulevi and the brand new Trio NorgeO (FolkJazzTrio) in 2019.
She has received commissions for different ensembles. 2018 she realized an interdisciplinary collaboration with Giorgi Aleksidze Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet. Music she composed for the famous men’s choir Ensemble Anchiskhati was released as an EP in 2020. Russudan works as a pianist at the Music Conservatory in Stuttgart, leads a choir and plays in various projects.