On International Music Day, October 1, every city, every country holds concerts to celebrate her majesty Music that knows no boundaries and language barriers, and has a magical effect on listeners’ hearts and minds, making the world more beautiful, noble and many-sided.
By tradition, the music-loving public gathers at the Turkmen National Music Conservatory’s Big Hall in Ashgabat to listen to the best works by much-loved composers performed by teachers and students of the institution.
As International Music Day coincides with International Day of Older Persons, among those attending the concert were many elderly people, and the exquisite music was a special treat and gift for them.
The concert traditionally opened with the sounds of the dutar, a Turkmen folk instrument. Honored Art Worker of Turkmenistan Osman Gujimov played the music to a song called Kerimgeldy’, which was warmly welcomed by the audience.
Soon, the concertmaster announced Czech romantic composer Antonín Dvořák’s popular piece, Quintet’.The quintet of brilliant performers included Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Vladimir Mkrtumov (piano), this year’s winner of the President’s Prize Bakhram Dolyev (first violin), Ibragim Orazov (second violin), Yusup Gandymov (cello), and Takhir Ataev (viola).
The conservatory musicians’ dazzling performance accentuated a broad and rich array of sounds.
People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Gulnar Nuryeva magnificently performed a Spanish song El Molondron’ by Fernando Obradors in an emotionally expressive manner with a touch of humor.
The evening of music also featured compositions by Henryk Wieniawski, Niccolò Paganini, Charles Gounod, Albert Doppler, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ferruccio Busoni, and other famous composers. The Turkmen performers seamlessly blended the music with musical traditions of different nations in celebration of International Music Day.
A performance by the String Orchestra under Takhir Ataev brought the concert to a close. The musicians played Alfred Schnittke’s Suite in the Old Style and Grigoraș Dinicu’s Hora Mărţişorului.
Here are brief interviews with the performers:
Stella Faramazova, the concertmaster and a co-organizer of the concert:
- What differs the evening of music from others is that the performers were free to choose their most-loved pieces for the concert. And the result is impressive: the concert program was varied and enthralling.
Takhir Ataev, the leader of the String Orchestra:
- Being offered freedom of choice of the music on our professional day, we prepared Alfred Schnittke’s Suite in the Old Style. Interestingly, the suite has not been performed on the Turkmen stage for 15 years. We are delighted that the audience approved of our choice.