Sulkhan Tsintsadze
Sulkhan Tsintsadze (1925–1991) was a Georgian, Soviet composer, cellist and teacher. He was born on 23 August 1925 in Gori, Georgia. At the age of seven he moved with his family to Tbilisi, then known as Tiflis. He began studying cello at the First Music College with E. Kapelnitsky, continued with the same teacher in the gifted-children group attached to the Tbilisi Conservatory, and entered the conservatory's orchestral faculty in 1942 to study with K. Minyar.
While still a student, Tsintsadze played in the State Symphony Orchestra of Georgia and the radio orchestra. From 1943 he was a cellist in the State String Quartet of Georgia, established at the Tbilisi Philharmonic and active in 1944–46. In 1946 he entered the Moscow Conservatory named after Pyotr Tchaikovsky. He graduated in cello in 1950, having studied with Semyon Kozolupov, and completed his composition studies with Semyon Bogatyrev in 1953.
From 1963 Tsintsadze taught orchestration at the Tbilisi Conservatory and became a professor in 1973. He served as the conservatory's rector from 1965 to 1984 and chaired the Union of Composers of Georgia. He was named People's Artist of the Georgian SSR in 1961 and People's Artist of the USSR in 1988. His awards included the 1950 Stalin Prize, third class, for String Quartet No. 2 and three string-quartet miniatures, as well as the Zakharia Paliashvili State Prize of the Georgian SSR in 1974 and the Shota Rustaveli State Prize of the Georgian SSR in 1981.
His output included the operas The Golden Fleece (1953) and The Hermit, first staged at the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1972; six ballets, including The Treasure of the Blue Mountain, The Demon, Poem, Ancient Sketches, Dali and the Hunter, and Rivares; and three operettas. He wrote five symphonies, two piano concertos, two violin concertos, two cello concertos, a cello concertino, eleven string quartets, twelve miniatures for string quartet, piano preludes, and works for cello and piano. His film scores included music for The Dragonfly, Bashi-Achuk, The Soldier's Father, and the film-ballet Rivares.
Tsintsadze died in Tbilisi on 15 September 1991; another source gives 15 November 1991. He was buried in the Didube Pantheon.