Professors visiting St. Louis as part of Erasmus + international exchange project
From April 9 to 13, three faculty members will be visiting Saint Louis: two professors from the Tbilisi Conservatory of Music (Georgia), Reso Kiknadze, dean of the Conservatory and Mariam Gviniashvili for the department of sound technician and electronic music, and saxophonist Pekka Pylkkänen from Karelia University of Applied Sciences (Finland).
Each of the three teachers will teach a master class open to all students:
Experimental electroacoustic and audiovisual music: presentation of the work of Mariam Gviniashvili, Recording Studio Manager at the Tbilisi Conservatory of Music in Georgia – Monday, April 9, 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. venue, Baccina Street, 47
Traditional Georgian music, curated by Reso Kiknadze – Monday, April 9, h 2:00-4:00 p.m., baccina street office, 47
Improvising in form, Rhythmic Approach and Harmony tips, curated by Pekka Pylkkänen, open to all instruments – Friday, April 13, h 4-6 p.m., Grove Street location, 106
Training credits for academic courses: 1/3 CFA
Kiknadze Returns
He studied classical philology at Tbilisi State University . He played saxophone in the Georgian TV Big Band and the Conservatory Jazz Quintet, performing at various festivals in Tbilisi, Tallinn, Vilnius. In 1986-90 he studied composition and traditional Georgian music at the Tbilisi Consevatory.
In 1992-94 he was part of the improvisation ensemble ‘New Sonanza’ and collaborated with “tatoeba – theatre dance grotesque,” a German-Japanese traditional dance company. Since 2000 he has collaborated with TanzOrt Nord, a contemporary dance company in Lübeck.
In 2002, he created the ‘Resolution Group,’ an improvisational ensemble of electroacoustic music. In 2007 he co-organized the Swiss-Georgian festival ‘close encounters’. He is currently Professor of Electroacoustic Music at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia and the Dean of the Tbilisi State Conservatoire.
He has played as a saxophonist and electronic musician all over the world. He is a composer and co-author of multi projects in dance, visual arts, poetry, film and theater.
Mariam Gviniashvili
Born in 1989, she is a composer of electroacoustic music who hails from the Republic of Georgia. After studying composition at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire, he continued his studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music in the sound technician department. He later earned a master’s degree from the Liszt Academy of Music (Hungary) in the department of “Electronic Music Media.” This year he will also undertake a master’s degree in “Performing MusicTechnology” at the Norwegian Academy of Music, with a research project on 3D audio.
His pieces have been performed at numerous festivals, such as “XVIII Days of Composition, Conducting,
Theory of Music and Rhythmics” (2014,Krakow,,Poland), “New Music in Orebro” (2015, Orebro,(Sweden), “New York Electroacoustic Music Festival” (2017, NY, USA), “General Assembly of International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music CIME / ICEM” (2017, Moscow, Russia), “Venize Electroacoustic Rendez-Vous” (Venice, Italy).
In 2017 his song “Coincidence” won at the “Pecs Electroacoustic Music Festival” in Hungary.
She was selected among the 6 participants in the “ManiFeste-2018, academy-festival,” organized by IRCAM (Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music in English ), which takes place in Paris in June 2018.She has worked as a theater, film and TV composer and collaborates with the American contemporary dance and performance company Arcos.
Since 2012 she has been the studio manager of Tbilisi State Conservatoire for sound technician. He is also a sound technician and a speaker at Giorgi Mtatsmindeli Chant Singing Universit.
Pekka Pylkkänen
Finnish saxophonist and composer who has worked with many orchestras and groups as a sideman and has shared the stage with great musicians such as Vince Mendoza, Maria Schneider, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Bob Mintzer, Dave Liebman, Michael Abene, Odean Pope, and many others. During the beginning of his career he worked for several years with the ‘National Jazz Orchestra of Finland’ – UMO Jazz Orchestra, with which he played modern contemporary music, often as a soloist.
As a leader or soloist, he has played in more than 50 countries and more than 1,000 concerts in the past 10 years. He has played in major festivals such as: Hong Kong Jazz Festival, Beijing Jazz Festival, Trondheim Jazz Festival, National Arts Festival (South Africa), Lima Jazz, Providencia Festival de Jazz (Santiago, Chile), Yokohama Jazz Promenade, Yarasum Jazz Festival, Beijing Concert Hall, The Spring Hall (Seoul/Korea), Daegu Cultural Center/Korea, La Pavillion Blanco (Cordoba, Argentina), Beijing Music Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, etc.
Pekka also headed the Pop/Jazz music degree program at Karelia University of Applied Sciences (2009-2018) and the woodwind department at Stadia/Metropolia University (2000-2007), giving clinics and master classes at more than 60 universities and conservatories worldwide, such as: Tokyo College of Music, Royal Academy of Music (Denmark), Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Koyo Conservatory (Kobe, Japan), Shanghai Conservatory, LUCA School of Arts (Leuven, Belgium) Royal Conservatory (The Hague, Netherlands), EMU Education Musical (Argentina) etc.
