Джемал Гокиели

Georgian conductor. Jemal (Djemal) Gokieli was born on 4 July 1920 in Kutaisi, Western Georgia into the family of a prominent Georgian composer Vano (Ivane) Rafailovich Gokieli. In his childhood he used to play on organ in the Catholic Church of Kutaisi. In 1940-es he studied conducting at Tbilisi and Moscow Conservatories where his tutors were Odysseas Dimitriadi, Grigori Stoliarov and Aleksandr Gauk. In 1944-48 he worked as a conductor at Tbilisi State Opera and Ballet Theatre. From 1948 until his death on 14 April in 1991 he was a conductor of The Georgian State Symphony Orchestra. During his career he held more than 1100 concerts as in his native Tbilisi and other Georgian towns but also in many different places of The Soviet Union, like Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities, as well as in all former Soviet Republics. He had concert tours in Poland, Yugoslavia and Romania. His concert activities outside The USSR was limited due to Soviet regime regulations.