Azerbaijan marks birthday of Italian composer

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

An evening of opera music entitled "Viva Puccini" was held at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall on December 21.

The gala concert was timed to the 160th anniversary of the brilliant Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, Day.Az reported.

Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra and the State Choir Chapel presented composer’s famous operas - Madame Butterfly, Turandot, Tosca, Bogema, Manon Lescaut, Gianni Schicchi.

Famous opera singers, People’s Artist of Uzbekistan Ramiz Usmanov, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Anton Fershtandt and Seljan Nasibli delighted the audience with their performance.

People's Artist of Azerbaijan Yalchin Adigezalov was presiding at the conductor's podium.  

Groundbreaking Italian composer Giacomo Puccini became famous for operas like "La Bohème",  "Madame Butterfly" and "Tosca".

Young Puccini began his career as organist when he was 14. He was solidly trained as a composer performing local folk tunes or tunes from Verdi operas. By the time he was 18, he had been inspired by a performance of Aida in deciding to aim for an operatic career.

His early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera. Later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents.

Puccini’s last years were spent working on his final opera Turandot, set in ancient China. Puccini never completed the final act – he died of throat cancer in 1924. The opera  had its premiere two years later, in a version completed by Franco Alfano.