Gorgojo Tsomaia Duo, Duo

Biography

The Gorgojo-Tsomaia Duo started collaborating in 2004 at Indiana University, and performed extensively in the Midwest.  This past season, they have performed faculty recitals at Northeastern Illinois University, St. Barnabas Church, and other venues in the Chicago area. An upcoming project for the duo is a recording of Georgian and Spanish music.

Today’s concert will be Jaime Gorgojo’s second appearance on the Myra Hess Concert Series. He frequently appears as a soloist and chamber musician nationally and internationally. He has collaborated with artists such as YoYo Ma, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel and Emanuel Ax, and performed in prestigious series like Symphony Center Presents, and Grand Teton Music Festival. In 2010 he became Concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra, and often appears as guest Concertmaster with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Northbrook Symphony and other ensembles. An avid explorer of different musical styles, Mr. Gorgojo is first violin with Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues and will appear this season in Chicago, Banff Center for the Arts, Minneapolis, and the Virgin Islands.

He combines his performing career with an active pedagogic vocation. He is Violin and Viola faculty at Northeastern Illinois University and Founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago Chamber Music Festival, a summer program for young, talented musicians. He worked for two seasons with the MusiCorps Program, a training and access program of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra that performs in schools and City parks, making music accessible to all audiences. Mr. Gorgojo received his Doctor of Music and Literature degree from Indiana University and plays a Dalphin Violin from 2005.

Hailed as “particularly impressive” by the Wall Street Journal, Alexandre Tsomaia, made his debut at the Newport Festival in Rhode Island, where he premiered 24 preludes of the Georgian composer Sulkhan Tsintsadze in North America. At a young age he appeared as soloist with several orchestras in Georgia, as well as in solo recitals. At the age of 14, he was accepted to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. During his time in the United States, he has appeared as a featured soloist at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. He has appeared on NPR’s “From The Top”, and has performed at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre with the members of the Toradze piano studio, receiving high acclaim from the New York Times.

He entered Indiana University in Fall 2003, and in March 2006 won the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale competition. In 2010, Mr. Tsomaia was “Artist in Residence in Polish Music” while a Performer Diploma student and associate piano instructor at Indiana. In 2011-2012, he studied at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy, and currently serves as assistant Music Director at St. Barnabas Church, as well as piano Instructor at DePaul University Community Division.  He graduated with his Performance Certificate from DePaul University in June 2014.