“Legend of Love” to be premiered at Opera & Ballet Theater

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The “Legend of Love” ballet by Arif Malikov will be soon staged at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.

Speaking about the ballet, the musical director and chief conductor of the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, Honored Artist Eyyub Guliyev stressed that Arif Malikov’s music is famous in the country and abroad.

“This year we all lost the world-famous composer Arif Malikov, whose music is known and loved in Azerbaijan, Russia and other countries. His symphonies are performed by the most famous orchestras in the world - in particular, Valery Gergiev conducted the performance of his famous Sixth Symphony,” said Eyyub Guliyev.

He noted that the “Legend of Love” ballet was first staged in 1961. After the premiere of the ballet, Malikov became famous throughout the USSR. The ballet has been staged in 64 countries around the world and in the end of the year, this work will be presented to the audience in Baku.

“Legend of Love” is a ballet in three acts, seven scenes, based on the libretto from "Farkhad and Shirin" drama by the poet and playwright Nazim Hikmet. The drama, in turn, is based on the "Khosrov and Shirin" poem by  the Azerbaijani philosopher and poet of the 12th-13th centuries Nizami Ganjavi.

The ballet was premiered on March 23, 1961 in St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theater. Since then this ballet has been staged at the best stages in the world.

To date, “Legend of Love”, which has become a classic of the 20th century, does not lose its relevance due to the unique and sophisticated choreography. The choreographer is People's Artist of the USSR Yuri Grigorovich, the stage designer is People's Artist of the USSR Simon Virsaladze.

After “Legend Of Love”, Arif Malikov went on to write music for two more ballets: "Two" (1967) and "Poem of Two Hearts" (1981), five symphonies and eight symphony poems. He also wrote music scores for many films and plays and was familiar with practically all genres of music composition.

Malikov is honored with a concert hall named after him at Turkey's Bilkent University. He was an Honorary Doctor of Khazar University (2012) in Baku. 

He taught music at the Azerbaijan National Conservatoire and was a founding member of Eurasian Academy.

The outstanding composer, laureate of the State Prize of Azerbaijan, holder of numerous orders, People's Artist Arif Malikov died on May 9, 2019.