By Ellen Brager-Michiels.
This month’s Meet & Greet, organized by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in collaboration with Nyenrode Business University and Diplomat Magazine, was especially enjoyable.
His Excellency Ambassador Mir-Hamza Efendiyev and spouse Mrs. Sevil Amirova-Efendiyeva, chose the intimacy of their own residence to treat their guests to a lovely violin and piano recital on Monday evening, November 21st.
Adding to the intimacy of the event was the fact that the pianist was none other than their daughter, Nezrin Efendiyeva, while Dr. Eugenio Matos, co-founder of Diplomat Magazine, played the violin. Esteemed guests included heads of diplomatic missions in The Hague, diplomatic representatives from various international organizations, local press and other invited guests.
Biography of artists, repertoire of the night, click here:
https://issuu.com/diploflying/docs/event_program_cb38807bcb5dfa
For additional Kim Vermaat’s pictures, please open the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121611753@N07/albums/72157673390966704
Nezrin Efendiyeva is an award winning musician, composer and singer-songwriter from Baku, who currently lives in Brussels. She studied piano, harpsichord and voice; lately she has been dedicating herself to composing film scores.
She performs regularly both on the piano and vocally, and teaches as well. For the Meet & Greet she played on a very special piano with a remarkable transparent top, made in Azerbaijan by the Beltmann Piano Company, a successful piano factory founded by Johan Beltmann in Holland in 1901 that later relocated to Azerbaijan.
Dr. Eugenio Matos studied the violin in Santo Domingo and in Leningrad. At age 17 he joined the Dominican National Symphony and has had the opportunity to perform in prestigious theaters around the world.
Despite his obvious talent as a musician he became a lawyer and career diplomat and is currently assigned as Minister Counselor to the Dominican Embassy in Buenos Aires. Prior to this post he lived five years in The Hague, during which time he launched Diplomat Magazine. Nevertheless his performance at the Meet & Greet was proof that being a violinist is still a large part of his identity.
Aliya Aghazada, Counselor to the Ambassador, introduced the recital and explained that the repertoire was chosen to celebrate the proclamation of 2016 as the Year of Multiculturalism by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. “Azerbaijan has been the home to different cultures for many years and strongly supports the promotion of a peaceful and inclusive society”, she said.
The program, therefore, included compositions that spanned around the world.
First on the program was a Larghetto by Willem de Fesch, a Dutch composer and violinist of the baroque era. It was a dreamy piece evocative of the composer’s time that set the tone for the rest of the mostly romantic music choices made for the evening.
After this brief visit to 17th century Holland, the musicians took the audience to 20th century Argentina with a beautiful arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s famous “Oblivion,” drawing a deep expression of emotions from their instruments. Maintaining the same mood but from Russian origin, Rachmaninoff’s well-known “Vocalise” followed. The piece, originally written for piano and voice, was performed in such a way that the distinction between voice and instrument at times almost disappeared.
The second part of the concert paid tribute to both musician’s home countries. Fikret Amirov was a prominent Azerbaijani and Soviet composer…and Nezrin’s grandfather. It was a great pleasure for the audience to hear the composer’s granddaughter play his Elegy and Ballade with equal amounts of skill and love. While the Elegy sounded nostalgic, the Ballade was gypsy-like with many folkloric elements that required significant dexterity, especially from Eugenio with a succession of very quick notes moving rapidly along the entire sound range of the violin.
There was also a personal connection with the next composer, Julio Alberto Hernández, from the Dominican Republic. Eugenio said he had known him personally and had had the opportunity to play with him on various occasions. From his repertoire they chose the Serenata, a song for lovers, and the Sarambo, a variation on the typical Dominican dance rhythms of the merengue. Eugenio complemented Nezrin on how well she captured the essence of the Dominican spirit in her playing despite the fact that they only had had one rehearsal and one quick review prior to the concert.
After the concert the guests mingled, while they were served a selection of wines and hors d’oeuvres from Azerbaijan. Especially tasty were the “chudu” (pronounced tsjudu) a delicious meat–filled pastry, the “shekerbura”, a delicacy made with almonds, walnuts, sugar, cardamom and other ingredients, and the famous “baklava”, though the Azerbaijani version uses less oil than other known varieties.
Also noteworthy were the beautiful paintings by Azerbaijani artists that decorated the walls of the residence, as well as several miniature replicas of Azerbaijani carpets from the 19th century.
As the evening drew to a close, the last guests to leave were in for a special treat when Nezrin joined her mother, who is a pianist as well and former professor at Baku’s State Music Academy, for a spontaneous quatre-mains.
Seeing them together sharing their passion for music and listening to their mastery of the piano was the perfect ending to an intimate, delightful and beautiful event.
Below, AD The Hague Newspaper´s review, please click the link:
https://issuu.com/diploflying/docs/ad.concert.azerbaijan.2016
Visit of violinist Eugenio Matos Gomez to President of the Dutch Senate Ankie Broekers-knol, previous to concert:
