Ivan Petrovich Paliashvili

(Paliev on the Russian stage). Born Oct. 1 (13), 1868, in Kutaisi; died Mar. 7, 1934, in Tbilisi. Soviet conductor and teacher. People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1924). Brother of Z. P. Paliashvili. First Georgian conductor and one of the founders of the national professional art.

In 1888 and 1889, Paliashvili studied in St. Petersburg under N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (composition) and V. I. Suk (conducting). In 1889 he began his career as a conductor of opera companies in various Russian cities, bringing before the public the best of Russian and Western European classics. In 1922 he was made principal conductor of the Georgian Theater of Opera and Ballet. One of the best interpreters of operas by Georgian composers, Paliashvili also conducted symphonic works. He taught from 1922 to 1925 in the opera workshop of the Tbilisi Conservatory.