She is a violinist born in Tbilisi, Georgia to a musical family where her father is the composer Nodar Gabunia and began learning the violin while at school.
She went on to study in Moscow followed by the Tbilisi State Conservatory, where she was awarded a scholarship to continue her studies in Germany after graduating in 1990. In 1992 she went to Hamburg’s Hochschule fur Musik und Theater and after spending four years there she went to Utrecht in the Netherlands to undertake the next phase of her post-graduate studies.
Her performing career as a soloist started when she was twelve years old and made her debut with the Georgian State Symphony Orchestra when she appeared live on national television performing Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto”. She has since been a regular performer with the orchestra at festivals, recitals and on television playing music by composers such as Bach, Brahms and Mozart under the leadership of various conductors.
She has performed in Germany with the Georgian/German Youth Orchestra and has been a guest musician and many chamber music festivals held all over Europe. She has also duetted with the violinist Vadim Repin on J.S. Bach’s “Double Violin Concerto”
In 2005 she appeared at the Tbilisi Autumn Festival performed a violin concerto written by her father with the Georgian State Symphony Orchestra.
She has been in a duo with the pianist Nino Gvetadze and a member of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Netherlands Philharmonic Radio Orchestra. She has also appeared as a member of the Florence Art Music Ensemble.
In 2015 she performed on the 7-CD box set The Thomas De Hartmann Project Presented by Elan Sicroff – Music for Piano, Voice and Chamber Ensemble.
Natalia performs solo violin here on Theme and Variations by Konrad Wolki…
Sources:
- http://www.myspace.com/nataliagabunia
- http://www.flamensemble.com/PROJECTS/CAGE.pdf
- http://www.radio4.nl/data/media/db_download/230_00adee.pdf
- http://www.nl-rso.org/index1.html
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/5290396-Natalie-Gabunia