Filimon Isaevich Koridze

(pseudonym, Corigio). Born 1829; died 1911. Georgian opera singer (bass). One of the founders of Georgian opera.

Koridze studied in Milan during the 1860’s with F. Ronconi. He performed in Italy and South America; in 1872 he sang at La Scala in Milan and in 1873 at the Mariinskii Theater in St. Petersburg. Koridze toured Italy again (1874-81) and then joined the Tbilisi Opera Theater.

Koridze’s roles included Susanin and Ruslan in Glinka’s Ivan Susanin and Ruslan and Ludmilla, the Demon in Rubinstein’s opera, and Don Basilio in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. He collected and wrote down folk and religious songs, directed a choir, and published four collections of church music (1895-1904). Koridze also composed works for voice and piano, piano pieces, and a textbook on reading and writing music (1895).