Piano Forte & Forte Piano. An Author’s Evening with Nino Barkalaya

Pianist, PhD of Paris 8 University, Knight of the French Order of Arts and Letters, and Professor Nino Barkalaya will share fascinating stories about people, pianos, and grand pianos.

The author’s evening will take place in the unique 17th-century historic building Darbazi Porakishvili — a rare architectural space that lends a special atmosphere to music.

A musical instrument can be a friend or an enemy, an object of love or hatred, or sometimes simply a piece of furniture… It always resembles its owners. Yet at times it becomes the “owner” itself, dictating a way of life.

You will hear unique stories about people and their pianos and grand pianos — instruments once called FORTEPIANOby the great Italian masters.

The protagonists of Nino Barkalaya’s stories are great musicians and poets, artists and designers, aristocrats and bourgeois, media personalities of the past and present, and of course ordinary people, their children and parents… But the main character is the piano.

An entire life unfolds beside it. And through this instrument one can understand everything about everyone — no less than Sherlock Holmes!

Though, admittedly, the great detective himself preferred the violin :)

Nino Barkalaya is a renowned pianist and musicologist, author of books and articles in French, English, and Russian, as well as a doctoral dissertation on the Russian-French avant-garde émigré composer Nikolai Obukhov (1894–1954).

Contemporary leading composers have dedicated works to her, including Guy Reibel (France), Anton Steinecker (Slovakia/Hungary), and others.

She teaches and lectures at universities across Europe and performs solo programs in world-famous concert halls, including Salle Gaveau and Salle Radio France (Paris), as well as leading music academies in Germany, Italy, and other countries.

The lecture will be held in Russian and will feature live musical excerpts, as well as unique video and photo illustrations.

📅 February 28
⏰ Doors open: 19:30 · Start: 20:00