Vakhtang Jordania

The Jordania Prize of the IBLA International Competition is bestowed in his honor; while the Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition is held annually in the Ukraine. In 2006 the winners were James Feddeck (US), John Traill (UK) and Sasha Mäkilä (Finland).

In 1999 and 2000, the IBLA International Competition hosted the "Jordania Prize", which was named after Jordania, and designed to further the knowledge of young artists who compete in worldwide competitions, Jordania was honored in 2001 with the creation of the Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition in the Ukraine. Since then it has been an annually held event, which attracts contestants from over 25 different countries.

Vakhtang Jordania (Georgian: ვახტანგ ჟორდანია; born 9 December 1943, Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union – 4 October 2005, Broadway, Virginia, United States) was a Georgian conductor.

Born in the Soviet republic of Georgia on 9 December 1943, Jordania studied piano from the age of five. After graduating from the Tbilisi Conservatory, he studied symphonic and operatic conducting at the Leningrad Conservatory, graduating with honors. A top prize at the 1971 Herbert von Karajan Competition catapulted him to the highest circle of Soviet artistry. From his assistantship with Yevgeny Mravinsky until his defection to the United States in 1983, Jordania held positions as music director of the Leningrad Radio Orchestra, the Saratov Philharmonic, and the Kharkiv Philharmonic. The Tchaikovsky Competition was under his baton twice. Conducting for more than one hundred concerts a year, he regularly toured the USSR, collaborating with musicians such as David and Igor Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Dmitri Shostakovich, Kiril Kondrashin, and Emil Gilels.