FOCUS ON MUSIC

These days Azerbaijan hosted the 6th International Music Festival - a festival of classical music, jazz and mugam, which has been traditionally held in Qabala since 2009. The performances of Azerbaijani singers and outstanding musicians, artistic groups, soloists and conductors from foreign countries during the big music festival aroused great interest among both local residents and many guests of the festival.

The festival was opened by one of its artistic directors and rector of the Uzeyir Hacibayli Baku Music Academy, people's artist Farhad Badalbayli, and the chairman of the Council of Elders of Azerbaijan, MP Fattah Heydarov. They welcomed all the guests, talented performers and musicians, who came to our country from around the world to participate in this grand musical festival, and wished success to the festival. At the ceremony, a congratulatory message to the participants from the president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO, Mehriban Aliyeva, was read out. "International cultural relations and mutual cultural integration are still one of the main priorities of the interstate policy of Azerbaijan … The Qabala International Music Festival, whose prestige is growing every year and which annually brings together talented musicians from around the world, being a music festival, which has become a tradition in the history of our national culture, is also recognized as an important event that makes a large contribution to intercultural dialogue. We regard this festival as a great contribution to the enrichment of the musical cultures of different nations and the further strengthening of friendly relations between nations," the message noted.

The festival is becoming younger

This year, as always, the event, which is a project of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, was attended by eminent performers, conductors and musicians from Russia, Turkey, South Africa, USA, Canada, France, Austria, Israel, Ukraine and Korea. The Uzeyir Hacibayli Azerbaijan State Symphonic Orchestra, people's artists Farhad Badalbayli, Rauf Abdullayev, Murad Adigozalzada, Yalcin Adigozalov, Yegana Axundova, Ali Asgarov and other also performed during the days of music.

Farhad Badalbayli shared his impressions of the great music festival. According to him, this year's festival will be remembered by a number of outstanding teams. "Kyiv soloists, the chamber ensemble and the Johannesburg Orchestra are very interesting teams with history. They proved themselves brilliantly here, performing works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. A ballet from Israel based on Qarayev's music appeared interesting. In general, all genres are represented at the festival so that the audience does not get tired even of genius classical music. Sometimes you want to entertain people and draw their attention with something more popular. I think we did it," he stressed. Badalbayli also noted that in addition to classics there is also ballet and mugam. "We believe that it is interesting. Any good music in any room has the right to be part of this festival," the composer said. "Maybe this year there are fewer stars, but more opportunities for young musicians. There are very interesting new talents. The repertoire remains the same: classical, jazz, folk music - all the best things in music," he said.

For example, Murad Abbasov, he is 16 and began studying music when he was 5 years old. Umida Abbasova is a violinist, she is 23, and has been studying the skill of playing since she turned seven. Murad Abbasov performed the first concert of Franz Liszt for the piano and orchestra. Umida Abbasova had a solo part in a symphonic work by composer Mirzayev for the violin and orchestra.

According to Badalbayli, many teams are willing to become participants in the festival. "We get a lot of requests to invite them. For example, this year, the Vienna Chamber Music Ensemble asked to be invited through the embassy of Azerbaijan. And we get a lot of such requests from different countries. Next year we will probably invite Anna Netrebko. She will arrive with her husband, our countryman Yusif Eyvazov. It will be very interesting because she is a star of the first magnitude," Badalbayli said, noting that there are plans to invite such big orchestras as those of Vienna and Berlin. He also talked about the fact that the locals are increasingly interested in the festival: "The purpose of the forum is to attract a wider audience, we want people to come to our concerts with families, children, and even if they make noise sometimes, we still are very happy: after all, they begin to comprehend classical music from an early age, and everyone has the opportunity to listen to music groups - concerts are free for classical music fans."

Ceyran Mahmudova, a professor of the Baku Conservatory, believes that "the significance of the festival is hard to overestimate, because it is an important part of the aesthetic education of youth and those who are older, and listening to classical pieces adorns everyone's life." And Laura Cid, a Euronews journalist, notes that the international music forum in Qabala is already on the agenda of music fans and is known among those who love to learn new names. "The festival is young, and, as expected, its organizers have huge plans for the future," she says.

Riot of music

It should be noted that the Qabala International Music Festival is the best way to promote Azerbaijani culture worldwide. Today Qabala, which is two and a half thousand years old, is not only a historical city. It is becoming an international cultural centre - a harmonious focus of national and classical, eastern and western music. Clear evidence of this is that the works of great Azerbaijani and foreign composers sound equally stately on the Qabala stage and young artists and musicians of world renown perform on the same stage. Works of Xayyam Mirzazada, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Qara Qarayev and other famous Azerbaijani and European composers were performed at this festival of music.

The famous Russian pianist, Honorary Academician of the International Academy of Arts at the United Nations, Professor of the US Juilliard School, Oksana Yablonskaya, and one of the artistic directors of the Qabala International Music Festival, the world-renowned cellist and conductor of the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra, Dmitriy Yablonskiy, performed during the festival. Musical pieces performed at the concert by participants in various prestigious international festivals and winners of various grand competitions - the young talented pianist Aslan Aslanov, a student of the Uzeyir Hacibayov Baku Music Academy, presidential scholarship holder Kanan Mayilov and cellist Murad Ibrahimov - were met by thunderous applause.

At the festival, music fans were also offered a concert of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by People's Artist of Azerbaijan and Professor of the Baku Music Academy Yalcin Adigozalov. Works of famous Azerbaijani and European composers - Bach, Bizet, Levitas, Amirov and others were performed.

This music festival was also attended by world famous conductors, musicians and bands from Russia, Turkey, South Africa, USA, Canada, France, Austria, Israel, Ukraine and Korea. The Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, the Israeli Brass Quintet, the Kyiv Soloists National Chamber Orchestra of Ukraine, soloists of the Vienna Academy Orchestra, the Tel Aviv ballet, Dmitriy Yablonskiy, Julian Rachlin, Gil Shohat, Tatyana Shafran, Chen Zimbalista, Geana Gandelman, Mira Awad and many others performed before the spectators. The concerts were attended by such Azerbaijani musicians as Rauf Abdullayev, Murad Adigozalzada, Yalcin Adigozalov, Yegana Axundova, Ali Asgarov, honoured artists Fakhraddin Karimov, Nargiz Aliyarova, Gulsan Annagiyeva, Gulnaz Ismayilova, Farida Mammadova, Sabina Asadova, Sahib Pasazada, prize winners Yusif Eyvazov, Azar Rzazada, Kamran Omarli and talented young soloists and performers of mugam.