since 2022
Annual projects
Baku Contemporary Music Days Festival
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Baku Contemporary Music Days (BCMD) is a festival launching in 2023 with the support of the Azerbaijani Ministries of Science, Education, and Culture. The festival is held in Baku every year and highlights contemporary and 20th-century academic music, continuing the legacy of the Gara Garayev Festival. BCMD invites international musicians, bringing together global and local performers and composers. Through premieres and educational events, it bridges tradition and the avant-garde, contributing to the development of musical culture in Azerbaijan.
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Turkar Gasimzada (Festival Director) – turkerqasim@gmail.com
Rena Fakhradova (Festival Curator) – rena.fakhradova@gmail.com
Music Nights at
The Museum
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Musical Nights at the Museum is a project organized by the BCMS in cooperation with the Museum Center of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The series of academic music concerts is curated by Tahir Ibishov and held regularly in the concert hall of the Museum Center with the participation of musicians from Baku. Concerts are free of charge.
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Tahir Ibishov (Project Curator) – tahir.ibishov@gmail.com
Podcast
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BCMS.Podcast is a project aimed at popularizing the activities of the Baku Contemporary Music Society in Azerbaijan and beyond. Our podcast is produced in Russian and curated by Rena Fakhradova. In the episodes, we talk about BCMS projects and interview key figures of Azerbaijani contemporary academic music in a relaxed and accessible way.
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Rena Fakhradova (Author) – rena.fakhradova@gmail.com
Dmitry Burtsev (Author) – dmbrzff@gmail.com
Call for Scores
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Call for Scores is a project of Baku Contemporary Music Society and Cadenza Contemporary Orchestra. Composers' works are evaluated by the members of the Artistic Council of Cadenza Contemporary Orchestra: Sara Timurova (musicologist), Ayaz Gambarli (composer), Said Gani (composer), Tahir Ibishov (composer), Turkar Gasimzada (composer). The selected scores are performed on the orchestral readings and concerts by the Cadenza Contemporary Orchestra.
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Interactive Concert Meetings in Schools
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Cadenza Contemporary Orchestra brings music education to life with interactive concert-meetings in schools across Azerbaijan. Since April 2022, the orchestra has visited nearly 60 schools, including remote areas like Pirallahi and Hovsan, engaging over 5,000 students. These events feature performances of Azerbaijani and global composers, interactive games, and hands-on experiences with musical instruments, sparking joy and curiosity in young audiences.
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Interactive Concert Meetings in Universities
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Cadenza Contemporary Orchestra has started to hold interactive concerts-meetings with students studying at higher education institutions since October 11, 2022. At these meetings, which are a continuation of the project started in general education schools in April, young people listen to the works of Azerbaijani and world composers performed by the orchestra and at the same time get acquainted with interesting moments from the composers' biographies. The concert program includes works by Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Gara Garayev, Asaf Zeynalli, Fikret Amirov, Ertogrol Javid, Khayyam Mirzazade and other Azerbaijani composers. It should be noted that in the 2022-2023 academic year, interactive concerts-meetings will be held with students in other higher educational institutions.
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Cadenza Invites
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Cadenza Contemporary Orchestra's annual "Cadenza Invites" project features master classes, lectures, and concerts with international artists. In 2022, violinist Gleb Khokhlov and cellist Yulia Migunova hosted sessions and performed contemporary works. In 2023, Gleb Khozlov returned for a masterclass and concert featuring works by John Adams, Enno Poppe, Khayyam Mirzazade, and others, with several works being performed for the first time in Baku.
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