Gurtskaya has a number of important prizes and awards to her credit. Most notably, a 2007 Russian Honorable Artist award given to her by president Vladimir Putin and a Medal of Honor given to her by Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. She has recorded duets with various well-known foreign singers including Ray Charles, Toto Cutugno, and Demis Roussos. Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Semi-Final (2) - Belgrade|Entry for Georgia Diana Gurtskaya - Peace Will Come|Composer(s) - Kim Breitburg|Lyrics writer(s) Karen Kavaleryan Sang in Position: 14|Final Position: 5|Total Points: 107 |Eurovision Song Contest 2008 GRAND-FINAL - Belgrade|Entry for Georgia Sang in Position: 17|Final Position: 11|Total Points: 83 In what was largely a two horse race in the Georgian national selection, Diana Gurtskaya won with the song Peace Will Come and will be only the second ever representative at the Eurovision Song Contest from Georgia. Diana Gurtskaya was born on July, 2nd, 1979 in Abkhazia in Georgia. She is blind from birth. During the armed conflict in Abkhazia, her family was forced to remove from their native town and she stayed in a camp for refugees and later moved to Russia. In 1995 she finished boarding school for blind and visually impaired children in Tbilisi. While studying at a special school she was successfully educated at a musical school in the piano class. Diana was 10 years old when she first performed on a stage of the Tbilisi Philharmonic Hall. The specific manner of singing of the small girl brought to her unanimous public recognition. Outstanding vocal talent, ambition and hard work, let Diana become the winner of the international festival of young singers Yalta-Moscow-Transit in 1995 and receive a special prize of the jury. Her talent and constant desire to improve her skills led Diana to become a brilliant student at Gnesinich Musical School in Moscow, Russia, in a class of variety vocal. After her graduation, in 1999 Diana began her independent singing career. In 1999 Diana became the laureate of the contest Slaviansky Bazar in Vitebsk, Belarus. She repeatedly became the laureate of the trophy Zolotoy Gramafon, festivals, Song of the Year, Ovation and many others. Diana is honoured with state awards of different countries, including the Honour Award in Georgia, the Honored artist of the Russian Federation and the Award of Saint Barbara in Ukraine amongst others. Diana Gurtskaya’s talent is esteemed not only in Georgia and Russia, but also in many countries of the world. She successfully performed in Madison Square Gardens in New York, also in Canada, Israel and the states of the former USSR. Diana’s duets with world celebrities, such as Toto Cutugno, Demis Roussos, Ray Charles and others are very popular. In 2003 she entered in the Russian Academy of a Theatrical Art where she is still studying. Besides art and singing, Diana conducts public and charity activities. In 2004 her personal initiative was established, Diana Gurtskaya’s Charity Fund On call of heart, in order to help blind and visually impaired children. The singer regularly visits orphan’s houses and special schools for disabled children. Recently Diana has released two albums; You are here and You know, Mum, songs from which remain constant hits. The third album is being prepared to be released. Diana is married to a wellknown Moscow lawyer Peter Kucherenko. In June 2007 their son Konstantin was born. |
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