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Lisa Batiashvili

Secret Love Letters w/Giorgi Gigashvili, Phil Orch

Deutsche Grammophon
Release Date: August 19, 2022

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Lisa Batiashvili documentary Part 1
1 Franck, C: Violin Sonata in A major / I. Allegretto ben moderato  
2 II. Allegro  
3 III. Recitativo - Fantasia (Ben moderato)  
4 IV. Allegretto poco mosso  
5 Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35 / I. Vivace Assai  
6 II. Vivace Scherzando  
7 III. Tempo comodo. Allegretto  
8 Chausson: Poème for Violin & Orchestra, Op. 25 / I. Lento e misterioso  
9 II. Poco Lento  
10 Debussy: Beau Soir  
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“What would human life be like,” asks Lisa Batiashvili, “without this range of emotions and feelings which we feel cannot be shared with anyone?” Her new album celebrates the fine art of concealment, of holding private passions just beneath the surface until they erupt. Secret Love Letters, set for release by Deutsche Grammophon on 19 August 2022, sees the Georgian-born German violinist explore some of the most romantic music ever written. In this, her first recording with a US orchestra, she is joined by The Philadelphia Orchestra and its inspirational Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin – with whom she has performed live many times – as well as by young Georgian pianist Giorgi Gigashvili. Together they embark on a journey that spans everything from forbidden love to romance seen from the perspective of old age.

“There are so many hidden messages in music, things that cannot be put into words,” notes Lisa. “Something very obvious unites the four pieces I’ve chosen for the album, by Chausson, Debussy, Franck and Szymanowski. It’s the message of love that is there in the music, in many different facets and colours, and so much of that message is secret and intimate.” Her long-time collaborator Nézet-Séguin is on the same wavelength: “One of my favorite quotes in life is that music starts where words stop. What’s so special about music is that it allows us to say things that sometimes we can’t even express to ourselves.”

Accompanying Lisa on piano in her final choice of music for Secret Love Letters is none other than Yannick Nézet-Séguin himself. Debussy’s Beau soir was originally conceived as a song, to lyrics by the novelist and critic Paul Bourget, and its exquisite depiction of an idyllic sunset inspired legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz to make a sultry arrangement for violin and piano. “Debussy was a messenger of the most magical atmosphere, fantasy and purity one can only imagine,” observes Batiashvili.

  • The Sibelius Violin Concerto / Violinist.com interviews Lisa Batiashvili
    Posted At: September 16, 2024 12:00 AM
    Violinist.com writes…..In some ways, the Sibelius Violin Concerto - and Finland - was where concert life began for Georgian-born violinist Lisa Batiashvili. "Finland was an important country to me - it was the culture for my career and my musical life - because of the Sibelius competition," Batiashvili told me in an interview last month over Zoom. When she was 16, Batiashvili placed second in the 1995 Sibel...
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  • On 'Secret Love Letters,' Lisa Batiashvili explores love and all its facets and colors / TAKE EFFECT
    Posted At: February 24, 2023 12:00 AM
    “What would human life be like,” asks Lisa Batiashvili, “without this range of emotions and feelings which we feel cannot be shared with anyone?” Her new album celebrates the fine art of concealment, of holding private passions just beneath the surface until they erupt. Secret Love Letters, set for release by Deutsche Grammophon on 19 August 2022, sees the Georgian-born German violinist explore some of the ...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili taps into private passions in Franck, Szymanowski and more on 'Secret Love Letters' / The Guardian
    Posted At: August 27, 2022 12:00 AM
    “What would human life be like,” asks Lisa Batiashvili, “without this range of emotions and feelings which we feel cannot be shared with anyone'” Her new album celebrates the fine art of concealment, of holding private passions just beneath the surface until they erupt. Secret Love Letters, set for release by Deutsche Grammophon on 19 August 2022, sees the Georgian-born German violinist explore some of the ...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili - Secret Love Letters is the WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At: August 22, 2022 12:00 AM
    “What would human life be like,” asks Lisa Batiashvili, “without this range of emotions and feelings which we feel cannot be shared with anyone?” Her new album celebrates the fine art of concealment, of holding private passions just beneath the surface until they erupt. Secret Love Letters, set for release by Deutsche Grammophon on 19 August 2022, sees the Georgian-born German violinist explore some of the ...
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  • Violinist.com's 'For the Record, Op. 208' presents Lisa Batiashvili's new DG recording: Secret Love Letters
    Posted At: August 18, 2022 12:00 AM
    “What would human life be like,” asks Lisa Batiashvili, “without this range of emotions and feelings which we feel cannot be shared with anyone'” Her new album celebrates the fine art of concealment, of holding private passions just beneath the surface until they erupt. Secret Love Letters, is set for release by Deutsche Grammophon tomorrow - 19 August 2022, and sees the Georgian-born German violinist explo...
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  • Although it's a studio recording, Lisa Batiashvili's 'Secret Love Letters' conveys a sense of living exultantly in the moment / theStrad
    Posted At: August 17, 2022 12:00 AM
    “What would human life be like,” asks Lisa Batiashvili, “without this range of emotions and feelings which we feel cannot be shared with anyone'” Her new album celebrates the fine art of concealment, of holding private passions just beneath the surface until they erupt. Secret Love Letters, set for release by Deutsche Grammophon on 19 August 2022, sees the Georgian-born German violinist explore some of the ...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili - City Lights is the WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At: June 26, 2020 12:00 AM

    In her latest project, City Lights, violinist Lisa Batiashvili brings together memories of important places in her life with some of the world's most beautiful music. This musical journey from her native Georgia to Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires, and Hollywood features collaborations with artists such as Miloš, Katie Melua, and Till Brönner. City Lights brings together Hollywood legend Charlie C...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili - City Lights crosses genres and mixes memories, places, sounds and music to powerful and haunting effect / Violinist.com
    Posted At: June 19, 2020 12:00 AM

    Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening! Taking its name from Charlie Chaplin's 1931 film, violinist Lisa Batiashvili's new album "City Lights" crosses genres and ...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili - City Lights is the CLASSIC fM 'Album of the Week'
    Posted At: June 8, 2020 12:00 AM

    Throughout the week Classic FM's presenters bring you the best new recordings, including world exclusives and premiere broadcasts of latest releases. This week: ‘City Lights' by Lisa Batiashvili receives; 'Album of the Week.' Alexander Armstrong plays a track from this Deutsche Grammophon album at 10.15am every weekday. In this latest release, Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili brings ...
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  • The BSO with Batiashvili in a luminous Szymanowski concerto / WCRB
    Posted At: January 18, 2019 12:00 AM

    On Saturday, February 9, and Monday, February 18, WCRB: Boston, Violinist Lisa Batiashvili is the soloist in Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1, with Andris Nelsons conducting the Boston Symphony in Copland's majestic Third Symphony. The program includes; Olly WILSON Lumina SZYMANOWSKI Violin Concerto No. 1 COPLAND Symphony No. 3 p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px ...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili set for 3 shows with Berliner Philharmoniker / Georgia Today
    Posted At: January 12, 2019 12:00 AM

    Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili will perform three shows at the Berliner Philharmoniker in Germany 24 – 26 January. Originally from Tbilisi, Batishvili now lives in Munich. She is famous across Europe and the US for her natural elegance, smooth sound and graceful articulation. Her three shows at the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin will include classical works by Sergei Prokofiev and Richard S...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili interviews with WQED: Pittsburgh
    Posted At: October 15, 2018 12:00 AM

    Violinist Lisa Batiashvili has won praise around the world  with several cds on Deutsche Gramophon including her latest  Visions of Prokofiev with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nezet-Seguin. The Violin Concertos 1 and 2 appear along with the Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet, the Grand Waltz from Cinderella and the Grand march from The Love for Three Oranges arranged...
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  • The colors and characters of Prokofiev, by Lisa Batiashvili / 91.3KUAF
    Posted At: May 14, 2018 12:00 AM

    Violinist Lisa Batiashvili first attempted a Prokofiev concerto at age 13, shortly after moving from Tbilisi, Georgia, to Hamburg, Germany. She remembers her teacher assigning books instead of technical lessons to help her understand the densely evocative work. Later, when she heard the concerto performed, the piece really came together for her. "I got to hear all these colors of the concerto," She says....
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  • The Russians are coming!! on Radio Purdue
    Posted At: May 2, 2018 12:00 AM

    Following her acclaimed album with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim, Tchaikovsky & Sibelius Violin Concertos, Lisa Batiashvili releases Visions of Prokofiev, a new album with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The album features Prokofiev's two violin concertos as well as select movements from his famous ballets (...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili shares her 'Visions of Prokofiev' with Spokane Public Radio
    Posted At: April 17, 2018 12:00 AM

    Following her acclaimed album with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim, Tchaikovsky & Sibelius Violin Concertos, Lisa Batiashvili releases Visions of Prokofiev, a new album with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The album features Prokofiev's two violin concertos as well as select movements from his famous ballets (Cinderella, Romeo and Jul...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili - Visions of Prokofiev is ideastreamWCLV: recording of the week
    Posted At: April 7, 2018 12:00 AM

    Our Recording of the Week, "Visions of Prokofiev," stars Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili. The album includes Prokofiev's two violin concertos as well as select movements from his famous ballets Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet, and the music for The Love for Three Oranges, newly arranged for solo violin and orchestra by Lisa's father, Tamás Batiashvili.  LB recently spoke with Ideastre...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili, set to perform for Nobel Prize laureates in Stockholm / AGENDA.ge
    Posted At: April 5, 2018 12:00 AM

    Georgia's internationally acclaimed violinist Lisa Batiashvili has been selected as the soloist for this year's Nobel Prize Concert on December 8, 2018, an occasion honouring the laureate of the famed prize. Promoted as "an event of world class stature", the show will feature Batiashvili in recognition of her "virtuosity and profound sensitivity", said a release by organisers. The Georgian artist...
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  • New Classical Tracks features Lisa Batiashvili - Visions of Prokofiev
    Posted At: March 28, 2018 12:00 AM

    Following her acclaimed album with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim, Tchaikovsky & Sibelius Violin Concertos, Lisa Batiashvili releases Visions of Prokofiev, a new album with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The album features Prokofiev's two violin concertos as well as select movements from his famous ballets (...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili gives classical radio her Visions of Prokofiev
    Posted At: March 21, 2018 12:00 AM

    Following her acclaimed album with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim, Tchaikovsky & Sibelius Violin Concertos, Lisa Batiashvili releases Visions of Prokofiev, a new album with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The album features Prokofiev's two violin concertos as well as select movements from his famous ballets (...
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  • WRTI's Classical Album of the Week is 'Visions of Prokofiev' with Lisa Batiashvili and Yannick Nezet-Seguin
    Posted At: March 19, 2018 12:00 AM

    As if Yannick Nézet-Séguin weren't busy enough with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Met Opera, his Orchestre Métropolitain, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic! He's also been recording regularly with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Yannick's latest venture with that group is Visions of Prokofiev, featuring superstar violinist Lisa Batiashvili. The album features Sergei Prokofiev's two v...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili - Visions of Prokofiev is WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At: March 16, 2018 12:00 AM

    Lisa Batiashvili has been described by The Times as "outstanding even among the very many fine violinists of her generation." Visions of Prokofiev is her new recording with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The album features Prokofiev's two violin concertos as well as select movements from his famous ballets and opera (Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, The Love...
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  • Read part of upcoming Strad interview with Lisa Batiashvili
    Posted At: February 18, 2018 12:00 AM

    In 1997, I saw Michael Jackson's HIStory tour live in Munich. It was unlike anything else I'd ever experienced – hypnotising 70,000 people like that requires a stage presence that very few artists possess, and he seemed so ahead of his time. His energy and the physical movements he made were always there to serve the music – the music was always the most important thing. The combination of co...
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  • Proms 2017 - Staatskapelle has few peers among European bands today / theguardian
    Posted At: July 18, 2017 12:00 AM

    Both of the Staatskapelle's concerts were a reminder that it has few peers among European bands today. The Elgar symphonies – the First preceded by Sibelius's Violin Concerto, with Lisa Batiashvili as the fabulously agile, intense soloist, the Second following the Birtwistle – were played with immense authority, and as much stylistic confidence as these players would bring to Wagner or Straus...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili with LA Phil turns heads with Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto / Los Angeles Times review
    Posted At: February 3, 2017 12:00 AM

    A concert like the Los Angeles Philharmonic's program this week, which includes the world's favorite violin concerto and all the favorite bits from one of the best beloved 20th century ballet scores, might seem the perfect respite from an inescapable collective obsession with the political goings-on of the moment. Thursday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Gustavo Dudamel conducted in a state ...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili & BSO take flight at Tanglewood / Boston Musical Intelligencer
    Posted At: July 25, 2016 12:00 AM

    Ripe with an intimate humidity and a potent cocktail of bug spray, pinots, and cheese, the Koussevitzky Shed welcomed Sir Andrew Davis, violinist Lisa Batiashvili, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Inspired by Brahms's new concerto which arose from a collaboration with violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim, Dvořák started writing his Violin Concerto in A Minor right after the premiere of t...
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  • Jonathan Biss and Lisa Batiashvili play Schumann at Wigmore Hall / The Independent
    Posted At: May 31, 2016 12:00 AM

    An invitation to be artist-in-residence at the Wigmore comes with strings attached: you must not only play, you must give masterclasses and you must devise chamber concerts and draft in friends to perform them. Thus it was that the French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras came to preside over a concert with his compatriot the violist Antoine Tamestit, the Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili and the American pi...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili comes to Ukraine to perform during Independence Day celebrations
    Posted At: August 24, 2015 12:00 AM

    Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili travelled to Ukraine to perform during the country's Independence Day celebrations. She commented that playing at Ukraine's Independence Day ceremony "is a very special for all of us, for the musicians, for people in Ukraine, for me, particularly. My country Georgia has also the Independence Day on May 26. So, I know exactly, how important this day is for ...
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  • Listen to the Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili talk about the music and story of Shostakovich / WRTI Radio
    Posted At: July 7, 2015 12:00 AM

    Twentieth-century Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich composed much of his work under the shadow of political oppression. The composer wrote his first violin concerto in 1947 and 1948, but the Soviet government was again cracking down on arts and culture considered anti-Soviet, and didn't schedule the premiere for seven years after Stalin had died.  As WRTI's Susan Lewis reports, today, his mus...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili stole the show@London's Festival Hall
    Posted At: June 6, 2015 12:00 AM

    Last stop on its long European tour, London welcomed the Philadelphia Orchestra warmly for the first of this distinguished band's two concerts at the Festival Hall. Yet while the playing was every bit as fine as you would expect of one of America's great orchestras, I suspect most people will remember this concert for another musician on stage. Although the most collegial of performers, the soloist L...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili on Violins, Ukraine and Valery Gergiev / New York Times
    Posted At: February 1, 2015 12:00 AM

    Lisa Batiashvili, the 35-year-old Georgian violinist who is this season's artist in residence with the New York Philharmonic and will perform Barber's Violin Concerto with that orchestra this week, is an eloquent musician. In concert and on award-winning recordings, she has captivated critics and audiences with her natural elegance, silky sound and the meticulous grace of her articulation. There is a las...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili is the 2015 Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year!
    Posted At: November 5, 2014 12:00 AM

    Congratulations to 2014-2015 New York Philharmonic artist in residence, Lisa Batiashvili, who is the 2015 Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year! "Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili, the New York Philharmonic's artist in residence, is known for her meticulous musicality and emotional power and is a frequent guest with major orchestras in Europe and in the U.S.," Musical America said in a statem...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili - Bach / WQXR: Album Of the Week
    Posted At: November 2, 2014 12:00 AM

    There are many ways to play the music of J.S. Bach on a violin these days, whether using antique fiddles with gut strings and Baroque bows, or big-toned modern equipment. In preparing this collection, Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili says she considered using a Baroque violin or bow but ultimately found the period approach "too extreme." "We don't really know how people played Bach at that tim...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili - Bach / WCRB: CD Of the Week
    Posted At: October 27, 2014 12:00 AM

    300 years ago, J.S. Bach was 29 years old. He had yet to hit his stride as a composer, yet he had already written several masterpieces. After all this time, Bach's music still retains a staying-power unlike any other composer's. Its distinct puzzle-like complexity and emotional depth seem like new discoveries to each successive generation. And each generation reinvigorates Bach's music on its...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili plays Brahms Violin Concerto with Philharmonic / New York Classical Review
    Posted At: October 12, 2014 12:00 AM

    The New York Philharmonic's concert on Thursday was a bit of an oddity, as Alan Gilbert departed from the standard overture-concerto-intermission-symphony concert order by putting the concerto on the second half. This practice is not unheard of, and was a common trick of Leopold Stokowski, but to try to follow Lisa Batiashvili's performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto with a major symphony after interm...
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  • Lisa Batiashvili plays Brahms with New York Philharmonic / New York Classical Review
    Posted At: October 10, 2014 12:00 AM

    The New York Philharmonic's concert on Thursday featured a world premiere by Christopher Rouse, Thunderstuck, an hommage to Jay Ferguson's 1978 hit Thunder Island, Rouse says the work is meant to be "engaging and fun." It is both those things to some degree, though it is also completely out of left field, both in general and for Rouse specifically. Suave, punchy, and almost oppressively consonant, it sou...
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  • 'The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert On WRTI' with Yannick Nezet-Seguin & Lisa Batiashvili
    Posted At: June 25, 2014 12:00 AM

    This Sunday at 1 pm, from a Philadelphia Orchestra concert this past May at Verizon Hall, Yannick is on the podium to conduct Barber's Adagio for Strings, an ethereal meditation that has emerged as an iconic piece of 20th-century American music; Bartok's First Violin Concerto, played by Lisa Batiashvili, one of the world's most sought-after violinists; and the concert will conclude with that imposing orc...
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