Biography
Uzeyir Hajibeyov was born in 1885 in Ağcabədi in the Elisabethpol Governorate and trained as a musician in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, among other places. In 1908 he premiered Leyli va Madschnun, the first opera of the Muslim East, combining European operatic form with Azerbaijani mugham singing; with the operetta Wenn nicht jene, dann eben diese (1911) and further stage works such as Arshin Mal Alan and Koroghlu he shaped Azerbaijani musical theatre. In 1920 he founded the Azerbaijan State Conservatory in Baku and served as its rector from 1938. For his work he received the Order of Lenin in 1938 and the Stalin Prize twice, in 1941 and 1946; he was also the first composer in the Soviet Union to be named People's Artist of the USSR. Hajibeyov died in 1948 in Baku and is still regarded as the founder of modern Azerbaijani music.
On Stagelog
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