The 20th-21st Century Azerbaijani Painting Museum has hosted a lecture on the theme "Evolution. Modern trends in opera and theatrical art".

The project was implemented jointly with the YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Azernews reports.

Together with the author and moderator of the project, principal conductor and music director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, Honored Artist Ayyub Guliyev analyzed the dynamics and current trends in the opera art.

"First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to YARAT Contemporary Art Space for this initiative. I have been following the activities of the organization for a very long time. I am incredibly pleased with their attentive attitude to the work of young talents, especially in the field of fine arts, contemporary photography and music. I think the opera project has become something new in Yarat's work. As part of the project, I told the participants of the event about the origins of opera art, the history of its development, which covers the end of the 16th century to the present day, the genres of opera as well as the influence of theater directors on the opera development, in particular, Andriy Zholdak, Andreas Neufeld, Dmitri Tcherniakov, who are known with their unusual performances," Ayyub Guliyev told AZERNEWS.

The conductor also spoke about the very first opera created by artificial intelligence.

"Recently, such a proposal has been received from Germany, which talks about the Opera on the Water project. As part of the event, I also spoke about various composers in whose work opera occupies a special place. The event was held in an interactive format.

The lecture was followed by a concert program, where Azerbaijan State Chamber Orchestra performed musical pieces by prominent composers. The concert program included works by Jean Sibelius and Valentin Silvestrov.

"Soloist of the Azerbaijan Opera and Ballet Theater, Honored Artist Farida Mammadova performed Marie's Lullaby from Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck. The young soloist of the opera theater Mahir Tagizade performed a very touching Fritz's Aria from Erich Korngold's opera The Dead City. The opera singers were accompanied by Rebecca Magomedova, who has been collaborating with the Azerbaijan Opera Theater for a year now. Interesting initiatives were voiced at the lecture, which I hope will soon come true," he added.