APersonIndependent states
Gara Garayev
Composer (1918–1982) of the ballets The Seven Beauties and The Path of Thunder, one of the masters of Azerbaijani symphonic music.
Gara Garayev was born in Baku on 5 February 1918. He studied with Uzeyir Hajibeyli at the Azerbaijan Conservatory and with Dmitri Shostakovich at the Moscow Conservatory.
His ballet The Seven Beauties, after Nizami, was staged in 1952 and The Path of Thunder in 1958; the latter won him the Lenin Prize in 1967. His symphonies, the symphonic engravings Don Quixote, chamber music and film scores brought Azerbaijani music to the world.
Garayev taught at the conservatory for many years and trained a whole generation of composers. He died in Moscow on 13 May 1982 and is buried in the Alley of Honour in Baku.
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Updated: October 1, 2026