World famous musicians perform at Rostropovich festival in Baku
By Sara Rajabova
Works by world famous musicians from numerous countries were performed at the Mstislav Rostropovich international music festival that was held in the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall in Baku December 3-9.
The 6th such festival, organized by Azerbaijan's Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Rostropovich Foundation of Cultural and Humanitarian Programs, was joined by Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev and prominent public figures, well-known men of culture and art. The art director of the festival was the president of Rostropovich Foundation Olga Rostropovich.
The annual International Mstislav Rostropovich Festival, dedicated to prominent Baku-born cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, has been held since 2007, when he died. The Rostropovich festival traditionally brings outstanding musicians from all over the world to the best concert halls of the Azerbaijani capital.
This year the festival had a special importance in view of the great artist's 85th anniversary. It featured world famous musicians and bands from Russia, Italy, Britain and Azerbaijan - Zubin Mehta, Enrico Dindo, Maksim Vengerov, Plamena Mangova, Sergey Krylov, Badri Maisuradze, Gianluca Marciano, Stuart Neill, Rauf Abdullayev, Fuad Ibrahimov, Elvin Ganiyev, the Symphonic Orchestra Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, British and Lithuanian chamber orchestras, and the Azerbaijani symphony orchestra, Trend news agency reported.
The Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra named after Uzeyir Hajibeyov and Elvin Ganiyev, a young violinist who is winner of numerous international competitions, performed at the opening of the festival. Also, works by Azerbaijani composers Ogtay Zulfugarov and Gara Garayev as well as Finnish composer Jean Sibelius were performed.
On the second day of the festival, a concert of the state symphony orchestra took place at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall. Enrico Dindo, a well-known Italian cellist, performed, with accompaniment of the orchestra in the concert, which was conducted by Fuad Ibrahimov.
The concert featured works by composers including Robert Schumann, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Dmitri Shostakovich.
On December 5, a concert of the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra called "three tenors" took place. The conductor of the concert was Italy's Gianluca Marciano and the soloists were Italian Francesco Demuro, American Stuart Neill and Russia's Badri Maisuradze.
Works by world-famous composers Verdi, Donizetti, Tchaikovsky, Cilea, Puccini, Bizet, Leoncavallo, Bernstein, Capua, and Lara were performed.
On the same day, an event devoted to the 15th anniversary of the Rostropovich house museum and the 85th anniversary of the maestro was held. The director of the house museum Sheila Heydarova spoke of the establishement and activity of the museum.
During the event pupils of the music schools in Baku performed compositions by Rzayev, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Alizade and Shostakovich.
On December 6, a concert of the Lithuanian chamber orchestra was held in the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall, Azertag state news agency reported. The art director, conductor and soloist of the concert was Russian violinist Sergey Krylov.
The concerts No. 1 and 2 of I.S. Bach featuring violin and string instruments, and Symphony No. 45 ("Farewell") of J. Haydn were performed in the event.
On the fifth day of the festival, the British chamber orchestra delivered a performance. The concert featured Russia's Maksim Vengerov and Michael Gayduk, Britain's Stefanie Gounley, and Bulgaria's Plamena Mangova performed as a soloist.
On December 8, a concert by the Symphonic Orchestra Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, one of the popular Italian orchestras, took place at the Heydar Aliyev Palace.
A composition performed by an orchestra conducted by the world famous conductor Zubin Mehta was enjoyable to the music lovers.
On December 9, Heydar Aliyev Palace hosted the closing ceremony of the Mstislav Rostropovich music festival.
Minister of Culture Abulfaz Garayev said in his remarks that the ceremony was one of the memorable days in the history of Azerbaijani culture.
Garayev thanked First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, goodwill ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO, Mehriban Aliyeva, and the president of Rostropovich Foundation Olga Rostropovich for their support in holding the festival.
Olga Rostropovich also thanked the First Lady, the Minister of Culture as well as the participants of the festival.
The Symphonic Orchestra Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducted by Mehta performed at the closing of the festival.
Mstislav Rostropovich was born on March 27, 1927 in Baku.
In a lifetime of countless memorable performances, Rostropovich gave the premieres of Prokofiev's second Cello Concerto in 1952, Shostakovich's two Cello Concertos in 1959 and 1966, Britten's Cello Symphony in 1964 and Bliss's Cello Concerto in 1970. Some of the other composers Rostropovich inspired to enlarge the cello and orchestral repertoire with works specially composed and dedicated to him include: Berio, Bliss, Khachaturian, Lutoslawski, Bernstein, Pärt, Dutilleux, Messiaen, Schnittke, Shchedrin and MacMillan.
In 1961 Rostropovich made his conducting debut in Gorky and since then won outstanding acclaim as a conductor, appearing with most of the world's leading orchestras, as well as conducting and recording many operas, including Queen of Spades, Eugene Onegin, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Tosca. He was Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington from 1977 to 1994. In the U.K., he appeared regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra (he made his UK conducting debut in 1974) and with other leading British orchestras.
Rostropovich held over 40 honorary degrees and was the recipient of more than 130 major awards and decorations by over 30 different nations. These included the German Order of Merit, the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the Lenin Prize, the Annual Award of the League of Human Rights, the Premium Imperiale from the Japan Arts Association and the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
He passed away in Moscow on April 27, 2007.