Giya Kancheli

Giya Kancheli (გია ყანჩელი), born 10 August 1935 in Tbilisi, is a Georgian composer resident in Belgium. Kancheli is his country's most famous living composer and arguably its best-known cultural export. His music is very communicative and immediate and often has a spiritual quality, which leads some to compare him (not always helpfully) to composers such as Arvo Pärt and John Tavener. There are several instances of folk and religious inspiration in his music, notably in the opening to the Third Symphony or his more recent work Magnum Ignotum...