Farah Tahirova

Biography

The Azerbaijan-born musician began studying piano at the age of 7 at a local music school. After seven years of focused piano training, she entered a music college where she studied for four more years and graduated with honors. At the age of 8, she appeared in music programs on Azerbaijani national television.

She continued her higher education at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory (now Baku Music Academy), majoring in Musicology. She graduated with honors and later worked as a piano teacher and concertmaster at a music school (1993–1996). From 1996 to 2010, she served as a lecturer in the Department of Music History and as a senior research assistant (2001–2010) at the Research Center for Musicology at the Baku Music Academy.

In 2011, she was awarded a PhD in the Philosophy of Arts.

She is currently the Artistic Director of the Viennese cultural society “Culture Meeting Point” (Society for the Promotion of Cultural Exchange, Vienna, Austria) and teaches piano and music theory at the Vienna Classical Music Academy.

She is the author of several scholarly books, including “Dmitri Shostakovich and Azerbaijani Music Culture” (2006), “Shostakovich and Turkey” (2010), and “Faust in the Music of Romanticism” (2008), which were presented at the International Book Fair of the CIS countries in Moscow and the 3rd International Book Fair “Golden Edition of the Golden Century” in Ashgabat.

She is also the organizer and director of numerous international music festivals and concerts in Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia.

Her artistic activities include participation in many international festivals and symposia, including the international festival for the 100th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich (Baku, 2006), and the International Society for Music Education (ISME) conference (Istanbul, 2019). She has taken part in masterclasses with Prof. Irina Mints and Kay Lang (Vienna), and delivered more than 40 opening speeches at concerts in Azerbaijan and Austria. She has appeared as a musicological speaker on radio and TV programs in Baku and as a piano soloist (works by F. Chopin) at a visual art exhibition at the Polish Cultural Institute in Bratislava (2017).

She served as a jury member at the international piano competition “Classic Pure Vienna” at the Wiener Konzerthaus (2018), and has given academic presentations at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw), including “Dmitri Shostakovich – Jovdat Hajiyev: The Pages of History” (2017) and “Dmitri Shostakovich – Gara Garayev: On the Trail of History” (2018) as part of the project “Dmitri Shostakovich and Azerbaijani Musical Culture as a Symbol of the Cultural Dichotomy of East and West.”

She is the author of a textbook on European, Russian, and Azerbaijani music history for use in preparatory programs at conservatories and music universities in Azerbaijan and has published over 50 articles in international journals, including academic reviews and texts on modern music education.

Her recent presentations include “Dmitri Shostakovich – Receptions in Turkey – 1935” at the Association for the Promotion of Atatürk’s Ideas in Austria (Vienna, 2022).

Her awards include:

• June 30, 2022: Diploma for extraordinary dedication in music pedagogy and promotion of Ukrainian musical heritage (LYRE International Ukrainian Festival, Florida Keys International Music Competition, USA)

• December 24, 2021: Medal “For Contribution to the Popularization of the Azerbaijani Language and Culture Abroad” from the State Committee for Work with the Diaspora (Baku)

• Awards and recognition for the preparation of students for international piano competitions “Edelweiss-2021” and “Edelweiss-2019” (Piano Gallery, Vienna)

• November 2021: International certificate for the method “Hello, Piano” by Irina Mints (Germany)

• 2007: HUMAY Award for the book “Dmitri Shostakovich and Azerbaijani Musical Culture”

• 2007: Youth Prize for Culture from the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan for the same book

• In 2022, she served as a jury member for the international music competition “Sounds of the Land of Fire” held in Vienna.