Azerbaijan honours famous composer Fikret Amirov's 100th birthday

Azerbaijan celebrates the 100th birthday of its beloved composer, People’s Artist of the USSR, multiple award winner Fikret Amirov.

He was born on November 22, 1922 in the city of Ganja as the son of famous singer, tar instrument player and composer Meshadi Jamil Amirov.

The young composer studied at the Music School for tar instruments in Ganja and then at the Baku Music School in a class for composing studies.

In 1939 he was accepted to the Baku Conservatory, where he studied composition under B. I. Zeidman and the basics of Azerbaijani folk music with Uzeyir Hajibeyli, another star in the country's musical history.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Amirov went to the frontlines but was allowed to return home after being wounded.

He was the director and artistic director of the Philharmonic Society and director of the Music School in Ganja from 1942-1945.

Following that, he continued his studies in 1945 and graduated three years later from the conservatory, where he composed the opera "Ulduz" as his graduation assignment.

In 1946 he was appointed as the artistic director of the Azerbaijan Philharmonic named after M. Magomayev and in 1956-1959 director of the Azerbaijan Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Amirov composed many works in different genres, with his most famous symphonic works being "Azerbaijani capriccio" (1961), "Gulistan - Bayato-Shiraz" (1968), "The tale of Nasimi" (1977), a concert for violin and piano with orchestra (1948), the ballet "Thousand and one night" (1979) and many others.

In his musical pieces, the composer actively used Azerbaijani folk melodies and rhythms, the principles of mugham, improvisation and organically combined them with variational and polyphonic developments.

He was acting as the Secretary of the Board of the Composers Union of Azerbaijan (since 1956) and the Union of Composers of the USSR (since 1975). Later, he became a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijani SSR (1980).

The outstanding composer died on February 20, 1984 and has been buried at the Alley of Honour cemetery in central Baku.

The ministry of culture has been hosting a music festival in his name to mark the composer's 100th birthday, which started on November 11, as ordered by President Ilham Aliyev.

A series of concerts, plays and events are scheduled in Baku and Ganja, with the festival ending on 23 November.

On the eve of his birthday, a jubilee evening will be held at the Heydar Aliyev Palace, with the performance of his ballet "1001 night" marking the end of the festival on the next day, to be shown at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.

During the 41st General Conference of UNESCO held in Paris in 2021, Amirov's birthday was added to the list of anniversaries celebrated by the organization for 2022-2023. The list approves the celebration of these anniversaries on an international level through UNESCO.