our Teachers

Piano teacher

Vakhtang Zaalishvili

Vakhtang Zaalishvili, born on July 7, 1997, in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a pianist, collaborative pianist/opera coach and a teacher.

His journey in music commenced at the Tbilisi Zakaria Paliashvili Central Music School, where he dedicated his formative years under the guidance of Professors Nana Makharadze and Victoria Chaplinskaya from 2009 to 2018. Continuing his pursuit of musical education, Vakhtang pursued a Bachelor’s degree of “Performing Art” at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire from 2018 to 2022, studying under distinguished professors Nino Katamadze, Nino Chirakadze, Lali Bakradze, and Tamar Licheli. Vakhtang’s education as an opera coach commenced with a traineeship at Conservatorio Arrigo Boito in Parma, Italy (2021-2022).

Vakhtang’s achievements extend to his participation in competitions, festivals, and opera productions, earning laureates and diplomas in events such as the Future Star 8th republic competition/festival – laureate and diploma “The Best Performing Skills” (Tbilisi, Georgia, 2015), “Music Without Limits XVI International Competition” – I place in category D (Druskininkai, Lithuania, 2016), 7th International Moritz Moskowski Piano Competition – Laureate Diploma (Kielce, Poland, 2017), 2nd National Melito Balanchivadze Piano Competition – Laureate and III place (Kutaisi, Georgia 2018). The Gradus piano Festival – (Denmark, Aarhus 2018), Notable highlights as an opera coach include the production opera “Falstaff” at Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito in Italy (2022), productions such as “Le Nozze Di Figaro” (2023) and “Dido and Aeneas” (2023) in Tbilisi, Georgia.

He was the music director and chorus master of the opera “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” the Delaware Valley Opera Company (July-August 2024, Philadelphia, PA, USA). In terms of work experience, Vakhtang has served as a piano accompanist and opera coach at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire (2022-2023), a piano pedagogue at “Private Music Studio in Saguramo,” Georgia (2022-2023), a piano accompanist and music teacher at the Nelly Berman School of Music (Haverford, PA, USA) from October 2023 to July 2024, and a music teacher at Cunningham Music School (King of Prussia, PA, USA) from January to July 2024. Currently, he is a student at the University of Texas (Butler School of Music) Graduate program in the Opera Coaching, Austin, Texas.