00:00Hi, this is Gyorgy and this is my Billboard Global cover story.
00:09I feel like I have three different kinds of personalities.
00:14Even my name sounds different within these different kinds of personalities.
00:22The first one is me as a classical pianist who has a name, Gyorgy Gigashvili.
00:31Gyorgy Gigashvili
00:35To be honest, I have a full photo album in my head, which comes to my mind now.
00:43The first moment that comes into my mind is when I met my idol, Marta Argerich,
00:51who is like a god to me.
00:55In 2019, at the Vigo Piano Competition, where she was the chairman of the jury,
01:04I received the first prize and it was like my biggest dream came true.
01:10The second thing that comes to my mind is my debut at Carnegie Hall last October.
01:20I could express myself as a Georgian befriended to the US country.
01:28And it means so much to my country and to myself,
01:33being able to express my art through the greatest hall in the world, I think.
01:39The last image is my first classical music album, which is called Meeting My Shadow.
01:49It won a decent classical award in the category of newcomer,
01:57which means a lot to me because it's my first professional recording.
02:03The first sound that comes into my mind as a classical pianist is Mozart's Symphony No. 40,
02:20because it was the first piece which was heard by me at the age of five or six.
02:28Because my mother used to play this all the time.
02:32I think it's the reason why I am a classical pianist right now, and thanks to my mom.
02:43My second personality has a name, Gigasha, who's a different personality.
02:53Talking about Gigasha, the first sound and the first song that comes into my mind is a listen by Beyoncé.
03:04Because in 2007, my father bought me a computer.
03:12And this was the first moment when I fell in love with her.
03:17I also love to play pop, synth, R&B type of music.
03:27And I think that's the reason why I'm a classical pianist.
03:32I also love to play pop, synth, R&B type of music.
03:41And I have many gigs with my friend Nini.
03:45And we even had our first EP, which was called Ben in a Hammock.
03:52It was my first try of breaking boundaries between classical music and this kind of music,
04:02which is being seen very unserious by the classical listeners.
04:11But I always try to tell them that there's no serious and unserious genres.
04:18It's always the music that speaks to us.
04:23And for me, I think to have a concert in the evening and to play Prokofiev,
04:30and when the concert ends and I go to the club and I sing and perform a song by Beyoncé,
04:39it's okay and why not?
04:42And I have a third character.
04:47It contains Georgi Gigashvili and Gigasha also.
04:53And it means that I'm an activist.
05:01The piece that best describes what is happening in Georgia today
05:08is Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7.
05:12And the soundtrack of my third personality as an activist is a shouting of people at demonstrations,
05:24the hymn of Georgia, and whistles.
05:29And it doesn't have a song or a piece which can be a soundtrack.
05:34It's like people's voice, which is a soundtrack by itself.
05:44Since I remember, I'm always standing at demonstrations with my people, with my friends.
05:53I think when you're an artist, you have a voice to share.
06:01And by voice, I mean that you have to stand with your people and stand for your country.
06:11And I think it's my responsibility and duty to share my voice,
06:17not only as a pianist and an artist, but as a citizen of Georgia.
