Margarita Chkheidze is a Soviet and Russian pianist and soloist of Mosconcert. Born on 27 December 1930 in Tbilisi, she came from a Georgian family with long-standing cultural traditions. She showed musical talent early, entered a school for exceptionally gifted children in Tbilisi at the age of four, and made her first stage appearance at five.
At nine, Chkheidze performed Beethoven's First Piano Concerto with an orchestra conducted by Odysseus Dimitriadi. At twelve, she played Mendelssohn's Brilliant Capriccio with an orchestra led by Alexander Gauk. After completing music school, she entered the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she studied with Alexander Goldenweiser.
While still a student, she won the Mozart Competition in Salzburg, Austria, followed by the Beethoven Competition directed by Emil Gilels. Heinrich Neuhaus particularly praised her performance at a Chopin competition, saying that hearing Chkheidze made him realize that Chopin was still alive.
After graduating from the conservatory with distinction, she began an active concert career, touring successfully throughout the former Soviet Union and Europe. She appeared in symphonic concerts conducted by the German conductor Hans Peter Frank and the American conductor Thomas Mayer.
Chkheidze has continued to give concerts in Moscow, Europe, and America. Her wide-ranging repertoire extends from Bach and Scarlatti to contemporary composers. She is especially fond of recital programs devoted to one composer or to several stylistically related composers, and has presented piano programs dedicated to Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev, among others.
She was named Honored Artist of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1964 and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 2006.