Gara Garayev's musical legacy highlighted in Philharmonic Hall

Azerbaijan State Academic Philharmonic Hall has hosted a spectacular concert dedicated to Azerbaijan's outstanding composer Gara Garayev.

Before the start of the concert program, musicologist Aysal Karim spoke in detail about the life and work of the outstanding composer, his great contribution to musical culture, Azernews reports.

Having synthesised Eastern and Western musical traditions, his works cover essentially all genres. At the age of eight, Garayev first entered the junior music school at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire.

Thanks to his exceptional musical talents, the composer studied simultaneously in two faculties at the conservatoire. His music teachers were Georgi Sharoyev, Leonid Rudolf, and the prominent Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibayli.

In 1952, under the direction of the choreographer P. A. Gusev, Garayev's "Seven Beauties" ballet was staged at the Azerbaijani Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Based on Nizami Ganjavi's famous poem, "Seven Beauties", it became the first Azerbaijani ballet and opened a new chapter in the history of classical music of Azerbaijan.

His ballet, "Path of Thunder", staged in 1958, was dedicated to racial conflicts in South Africa. In the same year, he wrote the score for the documentary film" A Story About the Oil Workers of the Caspian Sea", directed by Roman Karmen and set at the Oil Rocks.

Through his life, Garayev wrote nearly 110 musical pieces, including ballets, operas, symphonic and chamber pieces, solos for piano, cantatas, songs, and marches, and rose to prominence not only in Azerbaijan but also worldwide. He brilliantly juxtaposed features of mugham with jazz, blues, African music, European counterpoint styles, and developments related to 20th-century Western music, such as the 12-tone technique. Gara Garayev's masterpieces are performed all over the world.

Next, the Azerbaijan State Chamber Orchestra mesmerised the audience with music pieces by prominent composers. The orchestra performed under the baton of the People's Artist of Azerbaijan Fakhraddin Kerimov. The concert soloist was Honoured Artist Farida Mammadova (soprano).

Photo Credits: Kamran Bagirov