On February 13, an unusual and very original musical evening will take place in the Great Hall of the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan. It is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Azerbaijani composer Fikret AMIROV.

This amazing music creator brought to the world a rare feature of high skill and aspirations to combine the foundations of traditional folk music with a special system, orchestral dramaturgy of world symphonic music. And it turned out that this interweaving is not only possible, but very organic in its essence - and brings the true novelty of creative discoveries. The creator of many symphonic, ballet and opera works, Fikret Amirov became a true pioneer in the innovative combination of the musical foundations of traditional mugham with symphony. It is worth noting that many works of the still very young composer quickly gained worldwide recognition and were successfully performed by orchestras conducted by such great conductors as Leopold Stokowsky, Charles Munsch, Herman Abendrot, Heshmet Sanjari, Nikolai Anosov, Natan Rakhlin, Evgeny Svetlanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Niyazi…

In the vast variety of his outstanding creations, Fikret Amirov singled out a completely new genre for his time - symphonic mugham. Based on the fundamental traditions of mughams, preserving their principles of melodic development, gradual ascent, the composer wove these indestructible principles with the multicolored orchestral timbres, polyphony, and symphonic musical dramaturgy.

Repeatedly speaking to a wide audience, the composer spoke colorfully and succinctly about the combination of mugham with symphony: “As I listened and studied mugham in depth, it became clear that the dynamics of its intensive and purposeful modal development can be compared with the principle of symphonism. And that translating it into the language of a modern orchestra will not weaken, but, on the contrary, will thicken the tension, and the rigid impregnable canons of mugham are wise and flexible in the hands of those who, having mastered them, will subordinate their imagination to them. It also became clear that, despite the antiquity of origin, mugham is not at all archaic: it naturally “lays down” on a symphonic score, thereby confirming its unlimited possibilities.

In a memorable evening, the famous symphonic mugham "Shur", created by the young composer back in 1948 and immediately awarded the State Prize, will be performed. The symphonic mugham "Shur" will be performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the Musical Theater-Studio under the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan. Behind the conductor's stand is the Laureate of the Stefan TURCHAK International Competition Bobomurod KHUDOIKULOV.

The second part of the tribute to the blessed memory of the outstanding master of composition will be the performance of his Concerto on Arabic themes for piano and orchestra. This work was created by Fikret AMIROV in creative collaboration with Elmira Nazirova. This creation of the Master reflected his special attitude to the great culture of the East, into which he penetrated with the whole essence of his creative soul and which he highly valued and original. “The world of the East has never attracted me with its exoticism - for me it is, first of all, the world of the greatest spiritual values, monuments of architecture, the world of harmony, beauty and reason,” Fikret Amirov so vividly and deeply assessed the multifaceted and multicolored, humanistic and wise culture of the East, whose knight he faithfully and faithfully appeared throughout his earthly life. A concert on Arabic themes for piano and orchestra will be presented by the outstanding master of piano art, professor of the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan Adiba SHARIPOVA, accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra of the Musical Theater-Studio at the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan, conducted by Bobomurod KHUDOIKULOV.

The director of the evening and the person presenting each work in the preambles is the leading director of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater named after Alisher Navoi, Honored Art Worker of Uzbekistan Andrey SLONIM.

We hope that this evening will become a weighty and full-fledged tribute to the memory of the great personality and creator Fikret AMIROV, an outstanding figure not only in his native Azerbaijani culture, but also in the cultures and arts of the whole world of countries, peoples, and musical traditions.