Renowned conductor shares his thoughts about high-profile festivals

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Summer is over with its mind-blowing abundance of concerts and events to suit any taste.

For Eyyub Guliyev, the summer will certainly be remembered for a number of interesting and important events.

Principal conductor and artistic director of the Azerbaijani State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater took part in many high-profile festivals.

In his interview with Azernews, the acclaimed conductor shared his thoughts about participation in international projects, like in Germany, Bavaria, Canada, Poland, and Russia.

Q: What can you say about Global Soundscapes Music Festival in Canada?

A: In June, I performed in Canada for the first time. The concert took place in Vancouver within Music Festival Global Soundscapes, which brought together musicians from all over the world. At the festival, I conducted the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra and together we performed Tarana Farhnaz's Variations on themes from Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for satura, mandolin and oud as well as a music piece Vivaldi-Shiraz. Each musician played his own national instrument. The orchestra featured music instruments, like kamancha, gujeng, mandolin, key suona, as well as all major Western musical instruments including violin and percussion. The entire musical palette was fascinating.

Q: What impression did the tar performance make on the audience?

A: Concerto for Tar and Orchestra was the highlight of the festival. The music piece was composed by Farshid Samandari (Canada) especially for prominent tar musician, my father, Ramiz Guliyev, who turns 75 this year. The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra accompanied tar, which was an unforgettable moment for me. This piece of music was performed for the first time. Moreover, Ramiz Guliyev's solo chamber music concert was also held as part of the festival's closing ceremony. He shared the same stage with Canadian jazz pianist Michael Creber and Iranian percussionist Bijan Rahmani. The concert featured works by Azerbaijan's eminent composers Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Tofig Guliyev, Hasan Rzayev, etc. It was the idea of ??the festival management to include works of national composers in the festival's program. A spectacular concert dedicated to Ramiz Guliyev had a full house and closed the festival. Both concerts have been recorded and the audio version (CD) will soon be available on the festival website.

Q: Did Fikrat Amirov's ballet repeat its previous success in Russia?

A: In August, Fikrat Amirov's ballet "One Thousand and One Nights" was staged at Mariinsky II. The legendary ballet was highly appreciated by the audience. This year Azerbaijan is celebrating Fikrat Amirov's centenary and we are trying to promote the composer's great music in other countries as best as possible. The very first events dedicated to the centenary took place in January at the Mariinsky Theater on the initiative of the theater director Valery Gergiev. The ballet production brought together artists from the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, as well as soloists from the Sofia Opera House and the Mariinsky Theater (main stage). As part of the tour, the artists of the Primorsky Stage performed in St. Petersburg at the end of July. Taking into account the wish of the audience, the ballet's new version staged by Honored Art Worker of Russia Eldar Aliyev was showcased three times. I would like to note that the Mariinsky II is a perfect venue for staging any production and Eldar Aliyev took full advantage of the fact that Soloist of the Primorsky Stage Nadezhda Medvedeva was taught to play the tar. She is now playing tar together with the soloist of the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theater, Ramin Azimov. The musicians were accompanied by the Mariinsky Theater's Symphony Orchestra. The audience didn't want to let the artist go off the stage.

Q: What can you say about your collaboration with Immling Festival in Germany?

A: For almost twenty years, the Azerbaijan State Opera Theater's orchestra has successfully represented the country at the Immling Festival. I have been collaborating with the festival for around four years. A large-scale festival is a big challenge not only for conductors or soloists, but also for the orchestra, as the festival program is very rich and lasts more than three hours. Unfortunately, this year our orchestra could not attend the festival. I was invited to conduct the Bavarian Orchestra together with the festival's artistic director Cornelia Von Kerssenbrock.

Four Georgian conductors were also invited to the festival. All conductors brilliantly coped with the tasks and the orchestra's performance was magnificent. On my initiative, the music of maestro Niyazi, who would have turned 110 years old, was played at the concert. Some 30 music pieces were included in the concert program but all praised Niyazi's masterpiece. I would like to note that Cornelia Von Kerssenbrock and Ludwig Baumann, her husband who is the festival's director, are frequent guests in Azerbaijan. Cornelia Von Kerssenbrock keeps very warm memories of our country. She successfully conducted Pietro Mascagni's opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" and Giacomo Puccini's opera "The Cloak" staged by Ludwig Baumann at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theater.

Q: Could you tell our readers about a concert held as part of the Young Euro Classic Festival?

A: This summer I also conducted the International Lutoslawski Youth Orchestra (Poland) at the Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin. The orchestra brilliantly performed one of the most difficult musical programs - Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, Mieczyslaw Karlowicz's Bianca da Molena and Witold Lutos?awski's Cello Concerto together with the laureates of the Witold Lutoslawski competition, talented cellist Marcin Zdunik (Poland).

I would like to note that two laureates of the Witold Lutoslawski competition-Marcin Zdunik and myself took the stage that day. I won this music competition in 2006. Furthermore, we also thrilled the audience with Johannes Brahms's "Hungarian Dances". After the concert, an official reception was given in honor of the orchestra on behalf of the Polish Ambassador to Germany. I would like to note that the concert was broadcast live on German radio (Deutch Rundfuk1). The performance of the Polish orchestra received high reviews in the German media, including Tagesspiegel newspaper. I also gave an interview with German media.

Q: After the Young Euro Classic Festival you were invited to Poland. Please, tell us about the concert with Polish National Youth Orchestra.

A: After the Young Euro Classic Festival I arrived in the Polish city of Szczecin where I conducted the Polish National Youth Orchestra. The concert took place in the golden symphonic hall of the Szczecin Philharmonic. We repeated the previous concert program. The concert aroused great interest among the Polish public, which gave us a standing ovation. The director of the Szczecin Philharmonic cordially congratulated all the project participants and presented them with certificates.