Q&A

When did you start playing the piano?
Well, I should have started earlier.

Why did you start playing?
Ballet didn't work out 🙂

Which pianist inspired you most when you were young?
Eliso Virsaladze.

Which pianist do you most admire?
Martha Argerich; Georges Cziffra.

What's your favourite piece to play?
Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen.

What piece have you never played but would like to?
John Cage's 4'33”.

What's your favourite piece to listen to?
Mahler's Adagietto.

Who is your favourite composer?
I would like to think that the composers choose us, performers… But I love so many, sometimes I even get into an argument with Chopin and Liszt – most of the time they win… but I get the applause 

Who is your favourite writer?
Milan Kundera.

Who is your favourite theatre or film director?
Franco Zeffirelli.

Who is your favourite actor?
Charlie Chaplin.

Who is your favourite dancer?
Fred Astaire.

What is your favourite book?
Le Petit Prince.

What is your favourite film?
Amadeus.

Which is your favourite city?
Tbilisi; New York.

David Aladashvili hosting a show with Alain Delon

David Aladashvili by LekoStudio

David Aladashvili by LekoStudio

David Aladashvili by Pito Stf

What do you like most about yourself?
I am not scared of the stage.

What do you dislike about yourself?
The fact that I am NOT scared of the stage.

What was your proudest moment?
In 2011, as a student at The Juilliard School, I organized a recital called David Aladashvili and Co. – an evening of all Georgian music, inviting 25 Juilliard artists from all over the world, to perform only Georgian composers' works. I was extremely proud that day… I was proud to be Georgian.

When and where were you happiest?
On stage.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Art.

What is your greatest fear?
The Funeral March.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would like to be able to manage my time better.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
I don't think I have achieved much yet, but I did get a chance of inspiring young kids to love classical music and in general introducing classical music to ones who have never experienced it before, and I wish to be able to continue this path.

‘Mom, my sister. me and Dad, 1990'

‘My sister and nephew David jr'

David on horseback, photo by Elisabed Lordtkipanidze

What is your most treasured possession?
My family, especially my sister and her little monsters (my nephews).

What is your greatest extravagance?
Horses.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Flexibility.

On what occasion do you lie?
When I say that I never lie… 

If you hadn't been a pianist what would you have liked to be?
An actor.

What is your most marked characteristic?
I was born on Friday the 13^th!

What quality do you most value in a friend?
Loyalty.

What quality do you most value in a colleague?
Focus.

Which historical figure do you most admire?
King David IV of Georgia: David the Builder'.

Which living person do you most admire?
My mom.

What do you most dislike?
Bad taste.

What talent would you most like to have?
See my second answer!

What's your idea of perfect happiness?
Life free of stress and anxiety.

How would you like to die?
Backstage, after my recital, laughing, having a cigarette and drinking an Old Fashioned – P.S. at ninety-something years old!

What is your motto?
If no one did – I will…

‘Rehearsing Beethoven'

‘Soundcheck before the show'

In South Africa, Georgian Independence Day

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.