Petrushka or Daft Punk, Prince or Ravel: the composer Alexandre Kordzaia aka kordz finds his inspiration wherever music happens. To call him a crossover musician for this reason would be a mistake, however. He is much more of an all-over musician.

The breadth of his musical forms of expression is already laid out in his education: first he studied audio design in Basel. There he composed electroacoustic music and trained as a sound engineer. After graduation he moved to The Hague to the Royal Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition with Peter Adriaansz and Yannis Kyrikiades.

kordz grew up in a musical family between Switzerland and Georgia. And although he belongs to the generation of very young composers (his year of birth is 1994), he already knows the soundtrack of his teenage years has left a long-lasting impression on him. Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel belonged to this soundtrack, as did James Brown or Ryuichi Sakamoto.

kordz appears both as a composer and as a performer. In Georgia he is known for his danceable live sets and his exciting collaborations with the country's renowned orchestras, such as the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Georgian Youth Philharmonic. He has helped shape the local concert and club culture for more than five years now and is happy to work with collaborators such as violist Giorgi Zagareli or the Rapper DRO.

Fortunately, he moves naturally on all stages and it can happen that he even covers himself: for example, when he arranged his electronic compositions for the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra at the invitation of the Georgian conductor Nikoloz Rachveli and Giogri Zagareli. He opened the 2018 Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia, with this orchestra.

With musicians like the cellist Christoph Croisé or the percussionist Peter Conradin Zumthor he brought this concept also to Switzerland and to the Swiss television SRF, where he played a live set with Croisé at the »Purple Nights«. In 2018 he was invited to perform a live solo set at the Frankfurer Buchmesse, which was streamed by ARTE Concert.

As a composer and performer, he is in great demand with European orchestras and ensembles such as the Kluster5 Ensemble, the Nieuw Ensemble, the Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie, the Residentie Orchestra the Hague, the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra.

Among the special highlights of the 20/21 season was his composition for Club Guy & Roni together with the Slagwerk Den Haag Ensemble for an ›online and offline‹ new interpretation of the »Swan Lake« Ballet. At the invitation of Martijn Padding, Kordz premiered his first Cello Concertino for the International Cello Biennale in Amsterdam with solo cellist Lidy Blijdorp and the Asko Schönberg Ensemble. In May 2020, in the middle of the Corona lockdown, kordz and the rapper DRO played their joint track »Sakamoto« in a live stream. Two days later the video was shared by Ryuichi Sakomoto personally on Facebook.

Whether kordz composes for string orchestra or rappers: all his musical expressions radiate confidence and warmth. They have a rhythmic energy that one associates above all with electronic music. And a love of detail, as we know it from the scores of Stravinsky or Ravel. In this way, kordz succeeds in leaving the term »crossover« behind – and finds his own musical language. »That's sort of the dream: To have an image as an artist who is not really restricted by electronic or classical music. But also, not being pegged simply as a ›crossover‹ artist«.

Who plays kordz' music?

Lidy Blijdorp, cellist / Giorgi Zagareli, violist / Peter Conradin Zumthor, drummer / DRO, rapper / Etienne Abelin, violinist / Nino Katamadze, singer and artist / Natalie Beridze, musician and artist / Tamriko Kordzaia, pianist / Christoph Altstaedt, conductor / Lena Kiepenheuer, singer / Christophe Croisé, cellist / Georgian National Youth Orchestra / Asko Schönberg Ensemble / Residentie Orchestra The Hague / Podium Esslingen Chamber Orchestra & Festival / Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra / Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie / Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra / The Nieuw Ensemble / Zagareli String Orchestra / Slagwerk Den Haag / Club GUY & RONI Ballet and Dance Company

Where is kordz' music being played?

Close Encounters Festival (Georgia, Switzerland) / Festival Spectaculare (Prague) / Elbphilharmonie Hamburg / Funkhaus Berlin / Beethovenfest Bonn /Den Haag / Podium Esslingen / Chess Olympics Batumi, Georgia / Moods (Zurich) / SRF / ARTE /, CELLO BIENNALE AMSTERDAM, PulzArt, Internet (Youtube, Soundcloud, Instagram, Spotify)

Labels:

PRRRRRR Records, CES Records, Majestic Casual Records