Ganja State Philharmonic Hall gets new director

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Rashad Yusifov has been appointed director of the Ganja State Philharmonic Hall, Azernews reports, citing the Culture Ministry.

He was introduced to the staff members by the head of the music sector of the Department of Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage Vugar Gumbatov and the head of the Ganja Regional Department of Culture, Vasif Jannatov.

Ganja State Philharmonic Hall is named after the prominent national composer Fikrat Amirov, who was born in Ganja in 1922 and directed the Philharmonic for a while (1942-1943).

Ganja Philharmonic was founded in April 1919 on the initiative of the outstanding national composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli after his visit to Ganja.

Fikrat Amirov became the new director of the Philharmonic after he returned from Great Patriotic War in 1942.

The first symphonic orchestra in Ganja was established by Shirin Rzayev in 1969.

People’s Artist Fikrat Verdiyev founded the amateur Goygol Song and Dance Ensemble in the same year which later turned into the Goygol State Song and Dance Ensemble.

In 1990, Ganja State Philharmonic Hall was reestablished as the base of the ensemble.