The culture of Georgia has evolved over the country's long history, providing it with a unique national identity and a strong literary tradition based on the Georgian language and alphabet. This strong sense of national identity has helped to preserve Georgian distinctiveness despite repeated periods of foreign occupation.
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolution it was a part of the Imperial Theatres of the Russian Empire along with Maly Theatre in Moscow and a few theatres in Saint Petersburg.
Nina Ananiashvili is a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia. She has been described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the twelve greatest ballerinas of all time, and in 2002 was named Best Ballerina of the Year by the US Dance Magazine. Ananiashvili has been a prominent fixture of the Soviet, Russian and Georgian ballet scene for decades. Shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1987 a New York Magazine critic praised her as "the best thing about the Bolshoi's Giselle whether she appeared in the title role or as the queen of the wilis." In 2014, a film of her 1991 performance in Giselle with the Bolshoi ballet was released.
Teet Kask is an Estonian choreographer.
Nikolay Maximovich Tsiskaridze PAR is a Georgian-Russian ballet dancer who had been a member of the Bolshoi Ballet for 21 years (1992–2013).
Odysseas Dimitriadis was a Georgian of Pontic Greek descent and Soviet classical music conductor. During his 70-year career, Odysseas had conducted a number of the world's leading orchestras, as well as being a main conductor of Georgia, USSR state orchestra and the Bolshoy Theatre orchestra. In 1980 he conducted during the opening and closing ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics, held in Moscow. He has received a number of awards and titles, including Ambassador of Hellenism, National Artist of the Soviet Union and Golden Medal of Athens.
Paata Burchuladze is a Georgian operatic bass and civil activist. After his debut in his native Tbilisi in 1976, he embarked on a 35-year-long musical career during which he made appearances at leading opera houses across Europe and the United States. Through his foundation, he became involved in children charity in Georgia in 2004. From May to December 2016, Burchuladze briefly entered politics of Georgia, founding the political party State for the People to challenge the incumbent Georgian Dream coalition government in the scheduled October 2016 parliamentary election, in which the party failed to win any seat in the legislature. Since July 2017, Burchuladze has been leading the opera division of St. Petersburg's Mikhailovsky Theatre, one of Russia's oldest opera and ballet houses.
Makvala Kasrashvili is a Georgian opera singer (soprano).
Andria Melitonis dze Balanchivadze was a Georgian composer. He was the son of composer Meliton Balanchivadze and brother of ballet choreographer George Balanchine.
Vakhtang Mikheilis dze Chabukiani was a Soviet and Georgian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher. He is considered to be one of the most influential male ballet dancers of the 20th century, and is noted for creating the choreography of several of the most famous male variations of the classical ballet repertory, for example in Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, and Swan Lake.
Jansug Ivanes dze Kakhidze was a Georgian musician, composer, singer and conductor nicknamed "the Georgian Karajan". Kakhidze was music director of the Georgian State Symphony Orchestra for two decades beginning in 1973. He is the father of composer and conductor Vakhtang Kakhidze.
Simon (Soliko) Virsaladze was a Georgian and one of the Soviet Union's leading designers of ballet, film and opera. He also worked as collaborator with the founders of Georgian National Ballet company, Iliko Sukhishvili and Nino Ramishvili, in the creation of classic Georgian costumes.
Aleksi Davitis dze Machavariani was a Soviet and Georgian composer, conductor and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1958).
Tamaz Vashakidze is an artist, premier dancer of the State Georgian Ballet, choreographer, holder of the Order of Honor of Georgia (2001), founder and awardee of the Chabukiani-Balanchine International Festival of Ballet Art, founder of the New Georgian Ballet Theatre of Modern Dance, holder of Special Award of Balanchine's Family, and founder of the Foundation "Chabukiani-Balanchine".
Zurab Ivanes dze Anjaparidze was a Soviet and Georgian tenor. People's Artist of the USSR (1966).
Elchin Azizov is an Azerbaijani opera baritone. From 1992 to 2001, he was a member of the Parni iz Baku team of the Russian TV show KVN. Since 2008, he has been a soloist at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
David Aleksandrovich Gamrekeli was a Georgian baritone opera singer.
Ivane Petres dze Sarajishvili (1878–1924), known professionally as Vano Sarajishvili, was a Georgian singer of the Opera Theatre, Georgian People's Artist of the USSR, and one of the founders of Georgian professional vocal music. His lyrical and dramatic songs were beloved by Georgian people and one such, "Georgian Nightingale," became a legend in his lifetime.
Gorda is two-act ballet by the Georgian composer David Toradze, first premiered in 1949 at the Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater. Originally performed by prominent Georgian ballet dancers Vakhtang Chabukiani and Vera Tsignadze, Gorda was revived in 2016 by Nina Ananiashvili.
Vladimir Djouloukhadze, or Juluhadze, or Djuluhadze,, born in 1952, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, USSR, is a Georgian ballet dancer, a former principal of the Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi, Ballet Master, teacher, and choreographer.
