Gara Garayev

Qara Qarayev Əbülfəz oglu (Russian Кара Абульфазович Караев / Kara Abulfasowitsch Karajew; born February 5, 1918 in Baku, † February 11, 1982 ) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani composer.

Life

Qarayev was born the son of a doctor in Baku, his mother was musically very interested. He studied from 1935 to 1938 under Üzeyir Hacıbəyov and Leonid Rudolf at the Conservatory of Baku and then at the Moscow Conservatoire with Dmitri Shostakovich. 1938 his first major piece, Pesnja serdza was (Russian Песня сердца; approximately song of the heart ), premiered the soundtrack to a poem by Rəsul Rza at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre.

1941 Qarayev became head of the Philharmonie in Baku. From 1949 to 1953 he was director of the conservatory of the city, where he worked as a professor since 1959. His pupils included the composers Khayyam Mirzazade, Sewda Ibrahimowa, Afag Dschafarowa, Nargis Schafijewa, Firəngiz Əlizadə, Elnara Dadaschewa, Rachilja Gassanowa, Arif Mirzoyev. His son Fərəc Qarayev is a successful composer.

Work

Qarayev created two operas, two ballets ( Seven Beauties and The Path of Thunder ), three symphonies and two symphonic poems, the Albanian Rhapsody, Symphonic Engravings, Choreographic images, a musical image, a piano concerto, string quartets and other chamber works, two cantatas, songs and film scores.

Aftermath

Since 2011 the Qara Qarayev Festival of Contemporary Music will be held in Baku.