About

VITALI IMERELI IS THE BEST AND MOST ACCOMPLISHED JAZZ VIOLINIST OF THE WORLD.

A child prodigy, violinist Vitali Imereli graduated from the National Musical Academy of Georgia in Tbilisi as a soloist. After completing his studies, he taught for six years at the prestigious Tbilisi College of Music.

Inspired by the great Stephane Grappelli who became his friend and mentor, Vitali started playing Gipsy Jazz. In 1996 Vitali released his album “Tribute to Stephane Grappelli”, where he masters the Grappelli sound so brilliantly that even the maestro himself could not distinguish between his own and Vitali’s play. Stephane had great admiration for Vitali and gladly accepted an offer of the world tour with him. Unfortunately the tour never took place because Stephane passed away.

MASTERING JAZZ VIOLIN

QUICK FACTS:

NAME:Vitali Imereli
ZODIAC SIGN:Aries
BIRTH DATE: March 22, 1953
EDUCATION: National Musical Academy
of Georgia,Tbilisi.
PLACE OF BIRTH:Kutaisi, Georgia

EARLY LIFE

A child prodigy, violinist Vitali Imereli graduated from the National Musical Academy of Georgia in Tbilisi as a soloist. After completing his studies, he taught for six years at the prestigious Tbilisi College of Music. Vitali decided to leave his native Georgia to find his new home in Turku, Finland. At this time he could play different music styles: swing, fusion, funky, modern, and was touring Germany with Big Band “Experiment Berlin”, conducted by Michael Henning. Later he participated in Pori Jazz festival in Finland. Here in Pori he performed with Michael Urbaniak and here he meat Stephane Grappelli.In 1996 Vitali released his album “Tribute to Stephane Grappelli”, where he masters the Grappelli sound so brilliantly that even the maestro himself could not distinguish between his own and Vitali’s play.

Stephane had great admiration for Vitali and gladly accepted an offer of the world tour with him. Unfortunately the tour never took place because Stephane passed away. Since 1996 Vitali Imereli participated in a variety of festivals throughout Europe. Here he was on the tour with the internationally renowned Rosenberg Trio, performing in Turku, Helsinki, continuing to the Kajaani, Alandia, Pori Jazz Festivals and Concertgebouw Concert Hall in Amsterdam. Later he enjoyed successful performances with Didier Lockwood and the Rosenberg Trio in a Tribute to Stephane Grappelli at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

FROM ARCHIVE: 90’s

EARLY 00’s

His future activities took him to Germany, Sweden, Holland, Russia, Switzerland, Denmark, Turkey, Israel and Estonia as well as to many parts of Finland, where he participated in TV and radio programs. In March of 2000 Vitali released his album “Impression”. In October 2000 one of his recordings was included in the CD “Django Festival” published by Hot Club Records of Norway.

Since 2003 Vitali Imereli has performed in the USA with various musicians. Same year Vitali was scheduled to perform at Lincoln Center in New York with some of the best European musicians in the Gipsy Style, unfortunately he could not attend because of a delay in the visa processing, but he did perform at the Birdland Django Festival 2 months later. He was interviewed by Down Beet Jazz magazine and this interview was published in April 2004.

SINCE 2005

Since 2005 Imereli has been touring Israel, Russia, USA and Europe, performing with Bill Evans, Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola, Ken Peplovski, Leonid Ptashka. Every year, starting in 2008 Vitali takes part

in George Garanian’s project, performing with his Big Band as a soloist in Moscow Philharmonic Big Concert Hall and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

VITALI ON SOCIAL PLATPHORMS: