52 Notable Alumni of Baku Music Academy [Sorted List]

Muslim Magomayev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1942-2008 (aged 66)
Occupations: composeropera singerfilm score composermemoirist
Biography: Muslim Muhammad oghlu Magomayev, dubbed the "Soviet Sinatra", was a Soviet and Russo-Azerbaijani opera and pop singer. He achieved widespread recognition throughout Russia and the post-Soviet world for his vocal talent and charisma, including a People's Artist of the USSR award in 1973.

Irina Allegrova

Born in: Russia
Years: 1952-.. (age 74)
Occupations: singerlyricistcomposeractorpoet
Biography: Irina Aleksandrovna Allegrova is a Russian singer. She is a People's Artist of Russia (2010).

Vladimir Shainsky

Born in: Ukraine
Years: 1925-2017 (aged 92)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1962-1965
Occupations: composerpianistactorsongwriterpublic figure
Biography: Vladimir Yakovlevich Shainsky was a Soviet and Russian composer. He was a recipient of the People's Artist of the RSFSR (1986).

Gara Garayev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1918-1982 (aged 64)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1926-1938
Occupations: music educatorfilm score composercomposeruniversity teacherpianist
Biography: Gara Abulfaz oghlu Garayev was a prominent Soviet Azerbaijani composer. Garayev wrote nearly 110 musical pieces, including ballets, operas, symphonic and chamber pieces, solos for piano, cantatas, songs, and marches, and rose to prominence not only in the Azerbaijan SSR, but also in the rest of the Soviet Union and worldwide.

Polad Bulbuloghlu

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1945-.. (age 81)
Occupations: singerpoliticiandiplomatcomposeractor
Biography: Polad Bulbuloghlu is a Soviet and Azerbaijani singer, actor, politician, and diplomat. Bulbuloghlu became famous in the Soviet Union with composing jazz-influenced songs with heavy Azerbaijani folk influences in Azerbaijani and Russian languages. He also sang his own songs. Three of his songs became Songs of the Year and he received numerous prestigious awards in the Soviet Union. Bulbuloghlu is a lyrical tenor.

Fikret Amirov

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1922-1984 (aged 62)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Fikret Mashadi Jamil oghlu Amirov was a prominent Soviet and Azerbaijani composer.

Niyazi

Born in: Georgia
Years: 1912-1984 (aged 72)
Occupations: composerconductorfilm score composerpolitician
Biography: Niyazi Zulfugar oghlu Taghizade Hajibeyov was a Soviet and Azerbaijani conductor and composer. People's Artist of the USSR (1959) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1982).

Flora Karimova

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1941-.. (age 85)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1977
Occupations: actorsingerkhananda
Biography: Flora Alakbar gyzy Karimova is an Azerbaijani pop, mugam and opera singer and actress.

Bulbul

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1897-1961 (aged 64)
Occupations: opera singerkhanandamusicologistfolkloristmusic educator
Biography: Bulbul was an Azerbaijani and Soviet operatic tenor, folk music performer, and one of the founders of vocal arts and national musical theatre in Azerbaijan.

Vagif Mustafazadeh

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1940-1979 (aged 39)
Occupations: pianistcomposerjazz musician
Biography: Vagif Mustafazadeh, also known as Vaqif Mustafa-Zadeh, was a Soviet-Azerbaijani jazz pianist and composer, acclaimed for fusing jazz and the traditional Azerbaijani folk music, known as mugham. According to many world famous jazz musicians, Mustafazadeh is one of the pioneers and "the architect of jazz in Azerbaijan".

Chingiz Mustafayev

Born in: Russia
Years: 1991-.. (age 35)
Occupations: singersongwriter
Biography: Chingiz Maharram oglu Mustafayev is an Azerbaijani singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Truth", finishing in eighth place.

Tofig Guliyev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1917-2000 (aged 83)
Occupations: composerpianistconductorfilm score composer
Biography: Tofig Alakbar oglu Guliyev was a Soviet and Azerbaijani composer, pianist, and conductor.

Arif Malikov

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1933-2019 (aged 86)
Occupations: composerpaintermusic educatorfilm score composer
Biography: Arif Malikov was an Azerbaijani composer. He graduated from the Baku Conservatory as a music composer in 1958. He shot to fame in 1961 when his first major composition "Legend of Love" was staged at the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad (present day St Petersburg) and received nationwide acclaim. The ballet has been staged in several countries in Europe and is regarded as one of the finest works emerging from the former Soviet Union. The ballet "Legend of Love", is based upon the legend of "Farhad and Shirin", a story of unrequited love that was immortalized by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet. Malikov went on to write music for two more ballets, including "Yer üzündə iki nəfər (balet)" Yer üzündə iki nəfər (balet) ("Dvoe" or "Two") (1967) and "Poem of Two Hearts" (1981), five symphonies & eight symphony poems. He also wrote scores for a large number of films and plays, and was familiar with practically all genres of music composition.

Diana Hacıyeva

Born in: Ukraine
Years: 1989-.. (age 37)
Occupations: composersinger-songwriterconductorsinger
Biography: Diana Hajiyeva is an Azerbaijani singer and songwriter. She is a member and the lead vocalist of the group Dihaj, which represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Skeletons" finishing in 14th place.

Asaf Zeynally

Born in: Russia
Years: 1909-1932 (aged 23)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Asaf Zeynalabdin oglu Zeynally, also spelled Zeynalli (5 April 1909, Derbent – 27 October 1932, Baku), was an Azerbaijani composer.

Aisel

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1989-.. (age 37)
Occupations: pianistsingercomposer
Biography: Aysel Mammadova, known professionally as Aisel, is an Azerbaijani singer. She represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "X My Heart". She has also performed the Azerbaijan national anthem at the opening of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023.

Emin Sabitoglu

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1937-2000 (aged 63)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Emin Sabitoglu was a Soviet Azerbaijani composer, author of a lot of well-known Azerbaijani songs and music for films. People's Artist of Azerbaijan.

Dilara Kazimova

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1984-.. (age 42)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 2002-2006
Occupations: singersongwriterlyricistcomposeractor
Biography: Dilara Kazimova is an Azerbaijani singer and actress. She represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen with the song "Start a Fire".

Shafiga Akhundova

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1924-2013 (aged 89)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1951-1956
Occupations: composer
Biography: Shafiga Akhundova was a prominent Azerbaijani composer, the first professional female author of an opera in the East and People's Artist of Azerbaijan. Akhundova was born into a family of an eminent cultural figure Gulam Akhundov in Shaki in 1924. Gulam Bagir oglu Akhundov, who was a public servant and intellectual of his time, worked as the first secretary of Shaki between 1917 and 1920, while her mother was a housewife.

Eldar Mansurov

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1952-.. (age 74)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Eldar Bahram oglu Mansurov is an Azerbaijani musician, composer and songwriter.

Leyla Aliyeva

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1986-.. (age 40)
Occupations: journalisttelevision presenter
Biography: Leyla Mutallim qizi Guliyeva is an Azerbaijani television presenter. On 22, 24 and 26 May 2012 she hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan together with Eldar Gasimov and Nargiz Birk-Petersen.

Khadija Gayibova

Born in: Georgia
Years: 1893-1938 (aged 45)
Occupations: pianist
Biography: Khadija Osman bey qizi Gayibova was an Azerbaijani pianist. From Georgia in the then USSR, Gayibova died in Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s.

Mirza Babayev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1913-2003 (aged 90)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1953
Occupations: actorsinger
Biography: Mirza Abduljabbar oglu Babayev was an Azerbaijani movie actor and singer. He was awarded the title Honored Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR (1956) and People's Artist of Azerbaijan (1992).

Jahangir Jahangirov

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1921-1992 (aged 71)
Occupations: pedagoguefilm score composercomposerprofessorchoir director
Biography: Jahangir Shirgasht oglu Jahangirov was a Soviet and Azerbaijani composer, conductor and choirmaster; he was named People's Artiste of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1964.

Farhad Badalbeyli

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1947-.. (age 79)
Occupations: composerpianistmusicologistmusic educator
Biography: Farhad Shamsi oghlu Badalbeyli is an Azerbaijani pianist and composer. He was awarded the honorary titles, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan SSR (1972), People's Artiste of the Azerbaijan SSR (1978), the People's Artist of the USSR (1990), and laureate of the State Prize of the Azerbaijan SSR (1986).

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1947-.. (age 79)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1970
Occupations: university teacherpianistmusicologistcomposermusic educator
Biography: Franghiz Ali Aga Kïzï Ali-Zadeh is an Azerbaijani composer and pianist of contemporary classical music, chairperson of the Composers Union of Azerbaijan. Her music synthesizes Western classical modernist techniques with the Azerbaijani mugham art music. Among her better known works are the chamber piece Gabil Sajahy (1979) for cello and piano, as well as the ballet Empty Cradle (1993); she has also written instrumental, vocal and film music.

Jovdat Hajiyev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1917-2002 (aged 85)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Ahmad Jovdat Ismayil oglu Hajiyev was one of the major Azerbaijani composers of the Soviet period. He is remembered for his monumental orchestral works, having been the first Azerbaijani to compose a symphony (1936). He studied under Azerbaijan's Founder of Composed Music, Uzeyir Hajibeyov and under Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.

Dinara Aliyeva

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1980-.. (age 46)
Occupations: opera singer
Biography: Dinara Alieva is an Azerbaijani and Russian opera singer (soprano). She is currently a soloist at the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, where she made her debut in 2009 as Liù in Puccini's opera Turandot. People's Artist of Azerbaijan (2018).

Soltan Hajibeyov

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1919-1974 (aged 55)
Occupations: conductorpianistpedagoguecomposermusic educator
Biography: Soltan Ismayil oghlu Hajibeyov was an Azerbaijani and Soviet composer. He was awarded the People's Artist of the USSR on 26 July 1973.

Murad Kajlayev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1931-2023 (aged 92)
Occupations: conductorpoliticianfilm score composercomposermusic educator
Biography: Murad Magomedovich Kazhlayev was a Russian and Lak composer and conductor. He was a People's Artist of the USSR (1981), People's Artist of the Republic of Dagestan (2016), and laureate of international premiums and contests. He was also Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Great Academic Concert Orchestra named after Silantyev, a professor and academician at Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

Rauf Hajiyev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1922-1995 (aged 73)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1953
Occupations: conductorpoliticianpianistfilm score composercomposer
Biography: Rauf Soltan oghlu Hajiyev was a Soviet and Azerbaijani composer and politician. He was awarded the honorary title of People's Artist of the USSR (1978). He was Chairman of the Union of Composers of the Azerbaijan SSR, minister of culture of the Azerbaijan SSR (1965–1971).

Shamsi Badalbeyli

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1911-1987 (aged 76)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1932
Occupations: actortheatrical directorfilm director
Biography: Shamsi Badal oghlu Badalbeyli was an Azerbaijani theatre director and actor.

Fidan Gasimova

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1947-.. (age 79)
Occupations: actormusic educatoropera singer
Biography: Fidan Akram gizi Gasimova is an Azerbaijani operatic soprano who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1988.

Rafig Babayev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1936-1994 (aged 58)
Occupations: film score composerconductorcomposerjazz musicianpianist
Biography: Rafig Farzi oglu Babayev was an Azerbaijani jazz musician, composer, conductor, arranger, author of scores for films, and People's Artist of Azerbaijan (1993).

Agshin Alizadeh

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1937-2014 (aged 77)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Agshin Aligulu Alizade was a Soviet and Azerbaijani composer, People's Artist of the Azerbaijani SSR (1987).

Khayyam Mirzazade

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1935-2018 (aged 83)
Occupations: composermusic teacher
Biography: Khayyam Hadi oglu Mirzazade was an Azerbaijani composer and professor.

Hagigat Rzayeva

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1907-1969 (aged 62)
Occupations: opera singeractor
Biography: Hagigat Ali qizi Rzayeva was a Soviet Azerbaijani actress and singer of folk, opera, and pop music.

Nushabe Elesgerli

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1967-.. (age 59)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1990
Occupations: singeractor
Biography: İnstagram Alasgar gizi Hummatova is an Azerbaijani singer, actress, PhD in art history, and Honored Artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Isfar Sarabski

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1989-.. (age 37)
Occupations: composerDJ producerpianistjazz musician
Biography: Isfar Rzayev-Sarabski is an Azerbaijani pianist and composer, winner of the Solo Piano Competition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2009, Honorary Artist of Azerbaijan (2010), and receiver of the Zirva State Prize (2010). He is the great-grandson of Huseyngulu Sarabski, celebrated Azerbaijani opera singer, actor and one of the founders of opera in the Islamic world.

Khuraman Gasimova

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1951-.. (age 75)
Occupations: opera singerpedagogue
Biography: Khuraman Gasimova is an Azerbaijani opera singer (soprano) and actress.

Faraj Garayev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1943-.. (age 83)
Occupations: university teachermusic educatorcomposer
Biography: Faraj Gara oglu Garayev; December 19, 1943 in Baku) is an Azerbaijani composer, music instructor, professor, son of the prominent Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev and one of the leading composers of post-Soviet period.

Tofig Bakikhanov

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1930-.. (age 96)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1953
Occupations: composerartistmusic educatormusic teacher
Biography: Tofig Ahmed-agha oglu Bakikhanov is a composer. He was awarded the title People's Artiste of the Azerbaijan SSR (1990).

Amina Figarova

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1964-.. (age 62)
Occupations: pianistcomposerjazz musician
Biography: Amina Figarova is an Azerbaijani jazz pianist. Trained as a classical pianist in Baku, she became interested in the local folk music, later specializing in jazz. Since the late 1980s, together with her husband, the flutist Bart Platteau, she has performed in jazz festivals around the world.

Franghiz Ahmadova

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1928-2011 (aged 83)
Occupations: music educatordeputyopera singer
Biography: Franghiz Yusif qizi Ahmadova was a prominent Azerbaijani operatic soprano and music teacher. From 1951, she performed as a soloist at the Azerbaijani State Opera. She toured widely across the former Soviet Union, singing in the major opera houses of eastern Europe.

Kovkab Safaraliyeva

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1907-1985 (aged 78)
Occupations: pianistpedagoguecomposer
Biography: Kovkab Kamil qizi Safaraliyeva was an Azerbaijani classical pianist, piano instructor, and concertmaster.

Rauf Babayev

Born in: Armenia
Years: 1937-2020 (aged 83)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1962
Occupations: singer
Biography: Rauf Yusuf oghlu Babayev was an Azerbaijani singer (tenor), People's Artiste of Azerbaijan (2006).

Rauf Abdullayev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1937-.. (age 89)
Enrolled in Baku Music Academy: Studied in 1959
Occupations: art directorconductor
Biography: Rauf Janbakhish oghlu Abdullayev is a chief conductor of Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra, professor, People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR, laureate of the State Prize of the Azerbaijan SSR, Istiglal Order and "Golden Plane" international award.

Shahin Novrasli

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1977-.. (age 49)
Occupations: composerpianistjazz musicianmusician
Biography: Shahin Novrasli is an Azerbaijani jazz pianist, and composer.

Salman Gambarov

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1959-.. (age 67)
Occupations: pianistcomposerjazz musician
Biography: Salman Huseyn oglu Gambarov is an Azerbaijani jazz pianist and composer.

Javid Samadov

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1987-.. (age 39)
Occupations: opera singer
Biography: Javid Samadov is an Azerbaijani baritone opera singer, who currently resides in Nuremberg, Germany.

Ayyub Guliyev

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1984-.. (age 42)
Occupations: conductor
Biography: Ayyub Ramiz oghlu Guliyev

Yusif Akhundzade

Born in: Azerbaijan
Years: 1946-.. (age 80)
Occupations: military personnelconductor
Biography: Major General Yusif Akhundzade is a prestigious Azerbaijani military conductor and director. Akhundzade was the current Senior Military Director of the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. He also served concurrently as the director of the Central Band of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, a position he held from 1992-2024.