Otar Taktakishvili

Who was Otar Taktakishvili?

Otar Taktakishvili was a Georgian composer, teacher, conductor, and musicologist.

Otar Taktakishvili graduated from the Tbilisi State Conservatory, while still a student he composed the official anthem of the Georgian SSR. By 1949 he became a Professor of the Tbilisi Conservatory and the conductor and the artistic director of the Georgian State chorus. In 1951 he received his first Stalin 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.

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.

Taktakishvili's works include operas, two symphonies, four piano concertos, two violin concertos and two cello concertos, the symphonic poem Mtsyri and the oratorios In the Steps of Rustaveli and Nikoloz Baratashvili. Probably his best known work in the West is his sonata for flute and piano.