City Lights / Follow Your Dreams – with Lisa Batiashvili

Lisa Batiashvili and Nikoloz Rachveli take the audience on a journey through eleven cities that are particularly close to Batiashvili’s heart. From Chaplin to Legrand to Piazzolla – classical music meets jazz, tango and film music. The performance is accompanied by an impressive screen projection that brings the stories of the cities to life on film.

The following works represent selected locations:

PRELUDE: City Memories / Smile
Charlie Chaplin, José Padilla Sánchez, Leo Daniderff
Medley composed and arranged by Nikoloz Rachveli

MUNICH: Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639
Johann Sebastian Bach
arranged by Anders Hillborg

HELSINKI: Evening Song
traditional
arranged by Jarkko Riihimäki

PARIS: Paris Violon
Michel Legrand
arranged by Nikoloz Rachveli

BERLIN: Remembrance / Ich hab’ noch einen Koffer in Berlin
Nikoloz Rachveli, Ralph Maria Siegel
Medley composed and arranged by Nikoloz Rachveli
Solo: Philipp Hutter, trumpet

VIENNA: Liebeslied / Furioso-Galopp
Fritz Kreisler, Johann Strauss
re-orchestrated by Nikoloz Rachveli

INTERLUDE: The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Giya Kancheli
arranged by Nikoloz Rachveli

RIO DE JANEIRO: Desafinado
Antônio Carlos Jobim
arranged by Nikoloz Rachveli

NEW YORK: Goin’ Home
Largo from Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
Antonín Dvořák
orchestrated by Tamás Batiashvili

BUENOS AIRES: Buenos Aires Hora Cero / Vuelvo al sur
Astor Piazzolla
Medley composed and arranged by Nikoloz Rachveli
Solo: Amiran Mariamidze, guitar

LONDON: No Better Magic
Katie Melua
Vocals, guitar and bass line arranged by Katie & Zurab Melua
arranged for orchestra by Nikoloz Rachveli

BUCHAREST: Ciocârlia
traditional
arranged by Stephan Koncz

TBILISI: Lights of Sorrow / Herio Bichebo
Giya Kancheli
Medley composed and arranged by Nikoloz Rachveli

DANCE FOR FREEDOM: Khorumi
Nikoloz Rachveli

Programme subject to change.

Teo Jorbenadze, screenwriter/director

“City Lights” inspired by Charlie Chaplin with violinist Lisa Batiashvili 

The Luzerner Sinfonieorchester is always on the lookout for new concert formats to appeal to music lovers beyond its regular classical audience. Artists who devise individual programmes play an important role in this.

Following multimedia projects with the pianists Alice Sara Ott and Hélène Grimaud and pop symphonies with Herbert Grönemeyer, the orchestra continues this series with the Georgian-born German violinist Lisa Batiashvili.

The starting point for her album and concert “City Lights” was actor, film-maker and composer Charlie Chaplin, who for Batiashvili embodies “the beauty and creative imagination of the 20th century”. Inspired by Chaplin’s music and his films, she has put together works that present key cities in her life.

“City Lights” brings together a wide variety of genres on the journey between Tbilisi, Berlin, Paris and Buenos Aires, ranging from classical music by J.S. Bach and Giya Kancheli to film music by Charlie Chaplin, and jazz, pop and even tango by Astor Piazzolla. The music from “Cinema Paradiso” and an arrangement of Dvořák’s symphony “From the New World” with solo violin show the depth and breadth of Batiashvili’s “love of music, culture and the people of these places”.