​The final of the international music competition “Sounds of the Land of Fire” took place on May 21st at the Azerbaijan Cultural Center in Vienna.

The international competition announced by the Azerbaijan Academic Association was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the State Committee for Diaspora Affairs, the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Austria, the Azerbaijan Cultural Center and the Association “CultureMeetingPoint” in Vienna.

At the opening of the event, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Academic Association Kamal Akbarov emphasized the importance of the competition and called Vienna, the cradle of classical music, the best place for such events. He thanked all partners involved for their support.

 

The head of the Azerbaijani Cultural Center Leyla Gasimova wished success to the competition, which is of particular importance for discovering young talents, and said that such projects promoting Azerbaijani music should be encouraged in the future.

Honorary Chairman of the Jury, Rector of the Baku Music Academy named after Uzeyir Hajibayli Farhad Badalbeyli, said that the competition, above all, makes an important contribution to the development of classical music. He emphasized that all finalists showed high professionalism and praised the musicians who played the works of Azerbaijani composers particularly well.

Alexander Maria Wagner (Germany) and Grigorios Ioannou (Greece) were awarded special prizes for performing the works of Azerbaijani composers. According to the jury, Heli Kang (South Korea) took first place, Anna Leyerer (Austria) took second place and Grigorios Ioannou took third place.

After the award ceremony, the musicians gave a gala concert. Uzeyir Hajibeyli's novel “Without You” in the performance of Grigorios Ioannoun and Tofig Guliyev's “Jamilas Album” (Twelve Pieces) in the performance of Alexander Maria Wagner aroused particular interest.

The musicians Abuzar Manafzade, Aria Torkanbouri, Jala Rasulova, the musicologists Kamala Ahmadova and Farah Tahirova, who work in Austria, both took part in the Juri's work and also prepared the foundations for the competition over the past few months.

In addition to Farhad Badalbeyli, the jury for the online and live sections of the competition also included Yusif Eyvazov, Rena Rzayeva and Islam Manafov, Prof. Oleg Marshev and Prof. Stefan Möller.