David Lordkipanidze

David Lordkipanidze is an anthropologist and archaeologist born in Tbilisi in 1963. He is professor and director of the Georgian National Museum(GNM) since 2004. David Lordkipanidze is known in the international scientific community for having discovered the hominid fossil initially called Homo Georgicus and subsequently reclassified as Homo Erectus. His archaeological researches in the Georgian region of Dmanisihas brought into light an hominid skull more ancient than Homo Erectus, dating back to 1.8 million years ago. Testifying the transition from Homo Habilis to Homo Erectus, Lordkipanidze’s findings questioned the evolutionistic theories considered valid until then.

Lordkipanidze has received many awards including: Georgia’s Order of Honour (2000), Award of the Prince of Monaco(2001), the French Order of “Palmes Academiques” (2002), the Rolex Award for Enterprise (2004), the French Order of Honour (2006) and the Goethe Medal (2016). In 2007 he became Foreign Member of the United States National Academy of Sciencesand a member of the World Academy of Art and Science. 

Here you can find the video of his speech at TedxTibilisi

Katie Melua

Few know that the famous singer Ketevan “Katie” Melua (1984) is Georgian. Born in Kutaisi and raised between Tbilisi and Batumi she left Georgia during the 1993 Georgian civil war. Her family moved to Belfast, in Northern Ireland, where her father worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital and where Katie attended the St. Catherine’s Primary School and the Fortwilliam Dominican College. Her family moved to London in 1998. At 15, Katie won a talent show organized by the British TV channel ITV, singing the hit Without Youby Badfinger. She later graduated at the BRIT school with an A in Music.

Katie speaks Georgian, Russian and English. She has published nine albums, holds concerts all over the world and has millions of fans.

On April 29th 2006, her name was given to a new variety of tulips in the Nederlands.

Here you can find her version of “Wonderful Life”.

Aram Il’ič Chačaturjan

Born and raised in an underprivileged Armenian family in Tbilisi, he enrolled in the Gnessin Musical Institute thanks to his talent. In 1921, after the sovietisation of the Caucasian region, he moved to Moscow where he studied at the Conservatory, sharing his classes with Nikolai Myaskovsky. He studied cello and composition and soon he became one of the leading Soviet composers of his generation.

In the Thirties he married the composer Nina Makarova. In 1951 he became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. One of the most prominent people of the Soviet musical scene, he received the several significant awards from the Soviet Union.

He died in Moscow on May 1st, 1978.

George Gomelsky 

Born in Tbilisi in 1934, Gomelsky was a record producer, composer and musical manager. His family left in 1938 and traveled to Syria, Egypt, Italy, Switzerland and Britain. In 1963 he founded and directed the Crawdaddy Club in London, in the Richmond upon Thames area, where he organized the first Rolling Stones concerts, who played there twice a week. When the size of the club became insufficient to welcome Rolling Stones fans, Gomelsky replaced them with the Yardbirds and became their manager and producer. Subsequently, Gomelsky founded the music label Marmalade Records, publishing the works of artists such as Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity and the first works of the future members of the band 10cc. Gomelsky also played an essential role in the career of Soft Machine, Magma and David Allene of the band Gong. He also produced early recordings by Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page (both of whom played with the Yardbirds), Blossom Toes (Rod Stewart), and John McLaughlin and Alexis Korner.

In 1978 he moved to New York, where he died in 2016.

Giorgi Latso (Latsabidze)

Georgian pianist and composer specialized in the Romantic repertoire, Giorgi Latso is an appreciated performer of the works of Frederyk Chopin, Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy.

Thanks to a scholarship promoted by the Georgian President of the Republic, in 1996-2001 Latso studied at the State Conservatory in Tbilisi, with the professor Russudan Chodzava.

Latso is one of the youngest pianists to have registered and played live the 24 Studies and 24 Preludes by Chopin, the 12 transcendental execution studies by Liszt and the 12 Preludes by Debussy. His performances have been broadcasted on radio and TV in Europe, Asia and the United States.

In 2012 Giorgi Latso has been officially invited by His Sanctity Pope Benedict XVI at his residence in Vatican City. On that occasion he played Mozart’s Concert for piano and orchestra n. 21 with the Wiener Philharmoniken Orchestra at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basil in Rome.