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Enchanting int'l modern music festival runs in Baku

21 April 2015 15:57 (UTC+04:00)
Enchanting int'l modern music festival runs in Baku

By Amina Nazarli

The opening of the traditional 6th Gara Garayev International Festival of Contemporary Music was solemnly held in the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic on April 20, in Baku.

Organized by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the event dates back to 1986, initiated by national composer Faraj Garayev and famous conductor Rauf Abdullayev. Then, the festival included compositions that were very rare for the USSR’s audience.

To this day, the festival aims to familiarize local as well as foreigners visiting the country to splendid national-classic music.

The organizers promise that this year’s festival will differ from previous years. Joining their efforts Rauf Farhadov and Rauf Mammadov brought new ideas to the festival.

The organizers decided to put festival’s slogan, “Sad Evening”, devoted to the Garayev’s symphony, that the great composer intended, but failed write during his life.

Garayev is one of those great composers who enriched the Azerbaijani music with his immense legacy. He is the author of nearly 110 pieces, including ballets, operas, symphonic and chamber pieces, piano solos, cantatas, songs and marches.

The great composer juxtaposed features of Mugham with jazz, blues, African music, European counterpoint styles, and developments related to the 20th century Western music such as the 12-tone technique.

His music combines a strict, logical spirit of classicism with a poignant, romantic passion. After years of creating consonant and tonal pieces, he turned to a dissonant style in which links with folklore became less obvious, especially in such works as the Third Symphony and Violin Concerto.

During the four-day festival music lovers will have a chance to listen to rare musical pieces, little known to the public. The wide range program will open new opportunities of vocal genre and familiarize the audience with new names and compositions.

Many Azerbaijani celebrities, including art figures and prominent public figures attended the grandiose opening ceremony, so that no free place was seen in the hall.

The concert was opened with a mesmerizing performance by the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra’s musicians. Following the unforgettable performances, conductor Abdullayev appeared on stage together with Russian-German mezzo-soprano, Nadiya Zelenkova, who uniquely performed “Introduction” from one of the most famous Garayev’s ballet, ” The Path of Thunder.”

Addressing the event, Adalat Valiyev, the deputy culture and tourism minister, promised the audience will see many innovations in the festival.

“This time, the audience will hear vocal music of the 20th-21st centuries. We chose the performers not because of their eminence, but their quality," he said.

On April 21 the event will host Avital Cohen (flute), soprano-solo Asako Motoshima from Japan and Christoph Yaggin (guitar) at 7:00pm in the Chamber and Organ Music Hall located on the 28 May street, 9.

On the next day, the festival will move to the International Mugam Center, where visitors will be able to relax at the “Love story” concert thanks to the sound of beautiful melodies. On April 23, “multimedia opera” will be staged at the Azerbaijan State Theatre of Young Spectator.

For the closing ceremony of the traditional festival, scheduled for April 24, music lovers will again get together at the State Philharmonic.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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