Festival Opening Concert

Spanning three centuries, the programme moves from Vivaldi and Bach to Shostakovich, Fikret Amirov and Elmira Nazirova. Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with its distinctive scoring for piano, solo trumpet and strings, brings together the evening’s two soloists. The programme’s connection to Azerbaijan is woven through the music of Elmira Nazirova and Fikret Amirov. Nazirova’s Andante Cantabile carries a direct link to Shostakovich — she studied composition with him at the Moscow Conservatory — while Amirov’s Symphony for String Orchestra, To the Memory of Nizami brings another distinctive Azerbaijani voice to the evening.

Dramatic intensity and subtle irony, lyrical depth and virtuoso brilliance shape an evening in which music from different eras and traditions enters into dialogue with Shostakovich’s artistic world.