Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The Rashid Behbudov State Song Theatre hosted the International Arts Festival "Nadejda - 2018" on January 13.

More than 1,200 participants took part in the festival, who competed in 36 nominations: piano, classical instrument, folk instruments including tar, kamancha, saz, balaban, artistic reading, modern dance, etc., Trend Life reported.

The age categories included children (up to 7 years), children (7-10 years), juniors (11-15 years) and adults (16 years and older), solo, duets, small groups (up to eight person), ensembles (up to 24 people), large ensembles (25 or more participants on stage).

The most hard struggle took place between piano soloists in age categories - children (7-10 years) and juniors (11-15 years). The jury was faced with a difficult choice and discussions reached more than half an hour above the results in each nomination.

Other participants were awarded the title of laureate. However, in many nominations, where the judges did not see worthy rivals to the winners, they had the right not to determine the third place, but to allocate one or two participants.

The jury consisted of honored art workers of Azerbaijan, experienced choreographers and representatives of culture, including Tahir Eynullayev, Rimma Mammadova, Gulnara Karimova, Maharram Mammadov, Dmitry Babayev, Ulviya Hasanova and Ayten Akhmadova, who spent 11 hours to without interruption. During this time, they viewed and evaluated over 1,200 talented participants.

"I would like to express sincere gratitude to the jury members for the truly titanic work, as well as to all parents who chose this noble and beautiful path in their lives for their children. The International Olympiad of Arts will be held in Baku in May and we decided to divide disciplines on different days and create individual judging lines for each art form," said Aziz Azizov, deputy chairman of the Youth Union of Azerbaijan.

Among the winners were Maryam Babayeva, Togrul Mammadov, Zahra Mamedova, Rashad Javadov, Ali Guluzade, Suleyman Mahmudov (Gymnasium of the Arts of the Azerbaijan National Conservatory), Amin Maharramzadeh (Niyazi Music School No. 22), Lyaman Ismayilzade, Aytaj Melikova, Fatima Mammadova (Children's Music School No. 17), Rahim Akhmadova, Iskender Gasimzadeh (musical school No. 35 named after Sharoyev), Sura Hasanli, Javanshir Rustambayli (special musical school named after Bulbul), Fizzia Velizade (music school No. 8), Tunar Heydarov (music school No. 34), Elnur Aliyev, Nihad Abbasov (children's musical school of arts No. 5), Farid Mursal (Children's Musical School of Arts No. 28), Ali Novruzov (Children's Musical School of Arts No. 33).

Huseynaga Aslanov, Nargiz Huseynzade, Medina Bagirova and Kanan Babazade were awarded for stage art. The collectives, including Children's Music School of Arts No. 5, ensemble of the National Academy of Aviation as well as "Gracia", "Alov", "Təbəssüm", "Asiman", Ayan and others were also named best.

Media partners of the event are Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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