UNESCO to celebrate Fikrat Amirov's centenary

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

UNESCO will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijan's eminent composer Fikrat Amirov, Azernews reports.

As a result of joint activities of the Culture and Foreign Ministries, Azerbaijan's Permanent Mission to UNESCO, and the National Commission for UNESCO, relevant nomination documents were submitted to UNESCO. The events have been included in the program of anniversaries for 2022-2023.

UNESCO Headquarters in Paris will host a musical evening dedicated to the national composer on November 3.

Honored Artists Sabina Asadova, Babak Niftaliyev, young performers Seljan Nasibli, Orkhan Jalilov will perform at the concert co-organized by the Azerbaijani Culture Ministry and UNESCO.

The musicians will be accompanied by the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of People's Artist Faxraddin Karimov, People's Artist of the USSR and Azerbaijan, Farhad Badalbayli.

The concert will feature Fikrat Amirov's music pieces Azerbaijan-Symphonic Suite, Gulistan-Bayati-Shiraz symphonic mugham, as well as Concerto on Arabian Themes for Piano and Orchestra by Fikrat Amirov and Elmira Nazirova.

The concert program is directed by Honored Art Worker Ulviya Konul.

Fikrat Amirov, the founder of the symphonic mugham genre, brilliantly synthesized folk music and mugham traditions with modern musical techniques.

The composer wrote the first Azerbaijani lyrical-psychological opera on a contemporary theme. In the opera Sevil, the composer used a variety of musical forms.

Amirov's symphonic mughams Shur and Kurd Ovshari are unprecedented in the history of world music.

He is the author of numerous operas, ballets, symphonies, symphonic poems, symphonic mugham, suites, capriccio, piano concertos, sonatas, musical comedies, and songs, love songs, piano pieces, music for dramatic productions, and movies.

Fikrat Amirov's heritage, which calls for patriotism, always instills spiritual richness, and glorifies human ideals, is one of the brightest pages in the history of Azerbaijani music.