Baku to commemorate famous Italian conductor
By Nazrin Gadimova
Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall will host a concert dedicated to the memory of the great Italian conductor Claudio Abbado.
The Hall which is named after Muslim Magomayev will host the concert on March 7.
The State Symphonic Orchestra named after Uzeyir Hajibeyli will perform works by Abbado's favorite composers, Gustav Mahler and Ludwig van Beethoven led by conductor Eyyub Guliyev, the winner of international competitions.
Honored artists of Azerbaijan Sabina Asadova (mezzo-soprano), Alexei Milt (cello), Saida Tagizade (piano), and Dilara Mekhtiyeva (violin) will perform "Scheherazade" by Maurice Ravel and "Tales" by famous Azerbaijani composer Firangiz Alizade.
Abbado studied piano at the Milan Conservatory with his father Michelangelo Abbado, and went on to study conducting with Hans Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music.
The outstanding Italian conductor won the 1958 Koussevitsky Competition, which established him in Italy, and then won the 1963 Dimitri Mitropoulos Prize, after which he rapidly became known internationally as an orchestral and opera conductor.
Making his debut at La Scala in his native Milan in 1960, he served as music director there from 1968 to 1986, conducting not only the traditional Italian repertoire, but also presenting a contemporary opera each year. He also held a concert series devoted to the works of Alban Berg and Modest Mussorgsky.
While at La Scala, Abbado also founded the Orchestra della Scala for performing orchestral repertoire in concerts.
As the founder and music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra (1978) and the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchestra (1986), Claudio Abbado also showed deep commitment to the development of young musicians, an interest which extended to his role as Artistic Advisor to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Abbado ranked third in the list of the twenty most outstanding conductors of all time, a survey conducted by the British BBC Music Magazine in November 2010 shows.