11th Uzeyir Hajibeyli International Music Festival wraps up

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The 11th Uzeyir Hajibeyli International Music Festival has ended in Baku.

The festival was held on September 18-30 to celebrate the birth anniversary of Uzeyir Hajibeyli, the father of Azerbaijan's classical music and the author of the first opera in the Muslim East.

World-famous musicians from Russia, China, Turkey, the U.S., Italy, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Georgia took part in the festival, Day.Az reported.

The Minister of Culture Abulfas Garayev, First Deputy Minister of Culture Vagif Aliyev, Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Elmira Suleymanova. Rector of the Baku Academy of Music, People's Artist Farhad Badalbeyli, Director of the Philharmonic Hall, People's Artist Murad Adigozalzade and many other cultural and art figures attended the festival's closing ceremony that was held on 30 September.

Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra performed at the event. The orchestra was conducted by Mustafa Mehmandarov.

At a concert titled "Timbre. Universe. Opera ...", laureates of international competitions Elnara Mammadova (Azerbaijan-Russia), Mahir Tagizade, Ilham Nazarov (Azerbaijan), Regina Rustamova (Russia),Jabrail Idrisov, Umid Israilov (Uzbekistan), Georgi Chelidze (Georgia) surprised the audience with spectacular performances.

As part of the concert program, arias from the operas "The Cloth Peddler", "La Traviata", "Don Carlos", "Aida", "Rigoletto", "Bohemia", "Tosca", " The Marriage of Figaro","Don Giovanni" were presented to the spectators. The musicians enjoyed thunderous applause at the end of the evening.

The 11th Uzeyir Hajibeyli International Music Festival was co-organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture.