Lydia Kakabadse Recordings

British born Lydia Kakabadse is a “very gifted and accessible composer” (Music Web International) and composes mainly choral, chamber and vocal music. Her works have been released on CD under the Naxos and Divine Art labels and have been widely performed, commissioned and broadcast. They have also been included in music festivals both in the UK (including the Three Choirs Festival Eucharist and Chatsworth Arts Festival) and abroad. Excerpts from her choral album Cantica Sacra were included in a dance act on TV show “Britain’s Got Talent” in May 2020.

Lydia started composing at the age of 13 and her works include string quartets, string duet, mixed ensembles, songs, musical dramas, cantata, concert Requiem Mass and sacred/secular choral works for mixed choir (SATB), male voices and children’s choir. Her unique compositional style incorporates tonal and modal harmonies with Middle Eastern and medieval traits, infused with rich melody. An avid Latin enthusiast, Lydia has written original texts in Latin for her vocal works. She also draws inspiration from Greek & Russian Orthodox liturgical music – “Kakabadse’s talent at writing in the Greek Orthodox music style is supreme” (Tamvakos Archive).

Choral commissions include I Remember commissioned by Forest Preparatory School (Greater Manchester) for the Bellevue Education Northern Music Festival and the “stunning and ambitious Odyssey” (New Classics) commissioned by the Hellenic Institute at Royal Holloway University of London to mark its 25th anniversary in 2018. Both these works are included in Lydia’s choral/vocal album, Ithaka, released by Divine Art.

Beginning piano lessons at the age of five and later studying the double bass under Ida Carroll OBE, Lydia graduated with a degree in music from Royal Holloway University of London. She then spent several years studying and performing Greek and Middle Eastern dance, which she also taught at adult education centres. Rhythmic and melodic influences from these dances feature predominantly in her chamber music. Keen to promote the double bass in all her chamber works, Lydia’s string quartets are scored for violin, viola, cello and double bass – a timbral combination which works well, with the double bass adding a great richness and abundance of colour to the quartet’s sonority. Her string quartet Russian Tableaux has twice been played on BBC Radio 3 to mark International Women’s Day.

Lydia is currently working on a new chamber album for strings, woodwind and ethnic instruments. Her works have been performed at numerous UK concert halls, cathedrals, churches and chapels by acclaimed chamber ensembles and choirs, including “The Rossetti Ensemble” the Choir of Gloucester Cathedral and the collegiate choirs of Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, Clare College Cambridge and Royal Holloway.

Lydia has a keen interest in law, in which subject she holds a master’s degree (distinction). In the past, she worked as a solicitor (lawyer) to fund her many music projects.

All of Lydia’s chamber works are published by Naxos Sheet Music Publishing. Her choral work I Remember is published by Banks Music Publications.

www.lydiakakabadse.com