Oh To Believe in Another World

Among the figures inhabiting Kentridge’s visual world, Elmira Nazirova holds particular significance: Shostakovich was in intense correspondence with her while composing the symphony.

The first half brings Kentridge’s film together with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, performed by the BIAF Festival Orchestra under Dmitry Sitkovetsky.

In the second half, Nazirova moves beyond Kentridge’s visual world to appear in a different role — as a composer. Farhad Badalbeyli joins the BIAF Festival Orchestra for the Concerto on Arabian Themes for Piano and Orchestra by Fikret Amirov and Elmira Nazirova, conducted by Fuad Ibrahimov. Nazirova thus provides the link between Shostakovich’s Tenth and the Azerbaijani musical tradition of the second half.