Khatia Buniatishvili: Paris

As Notre-Dame finally throws open its doors for the first time in over five years, Khatia Buniatishvili updates her Paris playlist to celebrate the iconic cathedral’s place at the heart of the French capital, a city that has made such a profound impact on the Georgian pianist’s artistic personality. And here, written exclusively in her own words for Apple Music Classical, Buniatishvili paints an affectionate and evocative portrait of this medieval architectural wonder, so much a part of French culture. “Notre-Dame de Paris—endless stairs leading up to the sky of Paris. Under the Parisian sky, the view of the eternal city in the young and dreamy gaze of students, artists, lovers… Notre-Dame de Paris—the freedom of Esmeralda, the innocence of Quasimodo, the human rights dreamed of by Victor Hugo. Notre-Dame de Paris—which frightened us by showing that the immortal too could disappear, but which is still here: old, beautiful, free and timeless.”