Choral arrangements and Conducting

Other Interests

I received my first taste of arranging for a choir while studying at Tbilisi State Conservatory under the legendary teacher Givi Lordkipanidze. He loved the choral sound, and asked students to do choral arrangements of some of our favourite melodies. I would make arrangements of my favourite scores from popular films and he liked them very much.

Interestingly enough, although in Australia I lead several choirs and ensembles involved primarily in Georgian music, I have never been leading an ensemble or a choir whilst I was living in Georgia. Teaching at the conservatory and academic work at the conservatory and University was taking up all of my time.

Here you can see some YouTube videos of me conducting the Melbourne University World Music Choir. On these videos, we sing my own arrangements of a variety of popular and traditional songs.

Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".
Rudy Clark, (George Harrison version) "I’ve Got My Mind Set on You".
"Sombamba", by Valanga Khoza.
Leon Marcus Zachary (student of the World Music Choir) sings his onw song "Superhero".
And here is a recording of the whole concert after the 2016 Summer Semester.