BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 19. The National Music and Global Culture Society has conducted the selection process for the IV International Composer Competition, Nargiz Aliyeva, President of the National Music & Global Culture Society, international competition laureate, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, and professor, told Trend.
“The winners will be announced on September 18, Azerbaijan's National Music Day. The premiere of the prize-winning compositions will take place in Baku in September as part of the International Music Festival of Uzeyir Hajibayli. The concert will also be held in November at the Lincoln Center in New York. I express my special gratitude to the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of Azerbaijan,” Aliyarova noted.
The jury includes Melinda Wagner, Chair of the Composition Department at The Juilliard School in New York (Chair of the Jury); Sunji Gong, Associate Professor of Music Composition at the University of North Texas; and Jalal Abbasov, a professor at the Baku Music Academy named after Uzeyir Hajibeyli and the Azerbaijan National Conservatory, and an Honored Artist of Azerbaijan.
This competition is the first and only international composition contest in the history of Azerbaijani music. This year's contest is dedicated to Azerbaijani folk songs, aiming to highlight issues related to plagiarized Azerbaijani folk art and promote its global awareness. Representatives from 24 countries are participating in this year's competition. Winners will be announced, and diplomas and prizes will be awarded: $2,000 for first place, $1,000 for second place, and $500 for third place.
The best compositions will be compiled into an anthology, registered with the Library of Congress, and published in New York with an individual number and barcode.
Notably, two collections of works by laureates of the first and second Melody Composers Contests, Uzeyir Hajibayli and Fikret Amirov, have already been published in New York.
The first International Composition Competition in 2021 featured 51 participants from 35 countries; the second in 2022 had 35 participants from 23 countries; and the third in 2023 included 54 participants from 22 countries. Winners have come from Azerbaijan, the UK, the USA, Germany, Austria, Spain, Poland, China, Colombia, Georgia, and Ukraine.
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