Fikret Amirov

His father, Mashadi Jamil Amirov, was a famous mugam singer ("xanəndə"), who played tar and composed, including the 1915 opera Seyfal mulk.

During his childhood and early adolescence, Fikret began composing pieces for the piano.

Upon his graduation from the Ganja Music College, Amirov entered the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire, now known as the Baku Music Academy, where he was a student of Boris Zeidman and Uzeyir Hajibeyov.

Fikret Mashadi Jamil oghlu Amirov (Fikrət Məşədi Cəmil oğlu Əmirov; November 22, 1922, Ganja – February 20, 1984, Baku) was a prominent Soviet and Azerbaijani composer.

Fikret Amirov grew up in an atmosphere of Azerbaijani folk music.

Fikret Amirov was born on November 22, 1922, in the family of Mashadi Jamil Amirov and Dyurdana khanim, Ganja city.

He was the second child of the family.

Fikret Amirov first started to play tar and accompany his sister, Yakhshi Khanim.

Soon, with their performances, Fikret and his sister became successful in their school and attended the “Children's Creative Olympics” took place in Ganja.

During the event, he played tar to accompany his sister.

Uzeyir Hajibeyli, who came to Ganja to choose talented performers gets acquainted with the talent.

Fikret and his sister held the first place in the contest that took place in Ganja, and then in Baku.

Shortly after, they move to Baku and Fikret entered Azerbaijan State Conservatoire (currently, Baku Music Academy).

During their college years, they also performed at concerts with performances.

Since 1930, the Folk Music Cabinet was organized in the conservatory in order to collect the folk songs and dances under the guidance of Uzeyir Hajibeyli and Bulbul.

Bulbul, who led the cabinet, recruited young composers and musicians.

They went on expeditions to various parts of the country, collected folklore samples and provided folk songs and dance music with musical notes including Jabbar Qaryagdioglu, Seyid Shushinski, Khan Shushinski, and others’ works.

Fikret Amirov was also attended in this project along with Asaf Zeynalli, Zakir Bagirov, Gara Garayev, Suleyman Alasgarov, Said Rustamov, Ashraf Abbasov, Midhat Ahmadov, Mammadsaleh Ismayilov.

Due to his success and talent, Fikret was taken to Baku after graduating from secondary school in 1939, Ganja.

Here, he went to the conservatory with the advice of Dyrdana khanum (his mother).

Young Fikret came to Baku to meet Bulbul and Bulbul introduced him to Uzeyir Hajibeyli here.

Uzeyir Bey discovered his talent and advised him to study in the conservatory.

Fikret Amirov resided at his relatives' home for the first time he visited Baku.

Then with his violinist friend, they moved to a house in Dmitrov Street.

After military service, he studied the subject "Basics of Azerbaijani Folk Music" in Uzeyir Hajibeyli's class and started to compose his first works in this style.

In 1940, frequent musical nights and concerts were held in the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall.

Fikret Amirov took part in these concerts and became more familiar with the works of Western and Russian composers, and used their musical language.

He also attended in the symphonic orchestra exercises.

In 1941, when Nazi Germany attacked the USSR, Amirov, 19 at the time, was drafted to the Soviet army.

He was wounded near Voronezh, hospitalized and demobilized from the military service, returning to Baku to continue his studies at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire.

Amirov's music was strongly influenced by Azeri folk melodies.

He created a new genre called symphonic mugam.

Amirov's symphonic mugams were based on classical folk pieces and were performed by many renowned symphony orchestras throughout the world, such as the Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

Amirov was a prolific composer.

His most famous pieces include symphonic works such as "Shur" (1946), Kurd Ovshari (1949), "Azerbaijan Capriccio" (1961), "Gulustan Bayati-Shiraz" (1968), "The Legend of Nasimi" (1977), "To the Memory of the Heroes of the Great National War" (1944), "Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra" (1948) etc.

His ballets include "Nizami" (1947) and Arabian Nights, which premiered in 1979.

Amirov wrote the opera "Sevil" in 1953.

He also wrote a number of pieces for the piano including "Ballad," "Ashug's Song," "Nocturne," "Humoreska," "Lyrical Dance," "Waltz," "Lullaby" and "Toccata."

He also wrote numerous film scores.

Michelle Kwan, World Champion Ice Skater from the U.S. used Fikret Amirov's symphonic piece "Gulustan Bayati-Shiraz" in her skating program "Taj Mahal" in 1996.