The organizing committee of the Moscow International Arts Festival «Sounds of Dutar» named after Nury Halmammedov has established several special prizes in honour of outstanding Turkmen singers of the past. As the festival's art director Mamed Guseinov told journalists, the Medeniyet (Maya) Shahberdiyeva Prize «For the best performance of vocal compositions by Nury Halmammedov» was established in honor of the famous singer, with whom the composer worked fruitfully and to whom he dedicated several of his compositions, including a masterpiece of vocal art - the vocal cycle «Unheard Songs of the Children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki».

Medeniyet (Maya) Shahberdiyeva is a great Soviet, Turkmen opera singer, who during her lifetime was called the «golden voice» and «Turkmen nightingale» for her brilliant performance of the popular romance by A. A. Alyabyeva «Nightingale».

The Maya (Mamajan) Kuliyeva Prize «For the best performance of a chamber piece based on ethnocultural traditions» was established in honour of the legend and pride of Turkmen culture. The Turkmen National Conservatory in Ashgabat bears the name of Maya (Mamajan) Kuliyeva, within whose walls there is a memorial museum of the famous singer.

Prizes in memory of outstanding opera singers, People's Artists of the USSR and Turkmenistan, who made a significant contribution to the development of culture and art, professional education, are designed to stimulate the creative activity of young singers. One personal prize will be awarded annually. Candidates for the prize will be selected from among the winners of the competition held within the framework of the arts festival «Sounds of Dutar» in the nomination «Vocal Art». 

The first award ceremony for the winners of the competitive selection - prize holders will be held at the Gala Concert of the Moscow International Arts Festival «Sounds of Dutar» named after Nury Halmammedov already this 2024.

The festival organizing committee also reminds that applications for the competition of musicians of various specialties for the best performance of academic music based on ethnocultural traditions, within the framework of the VIII Moscow International Arts Festival «Sounds of Dutar» named after Nury Halmammedov, are accepted until the 1st of October, 2024.

All details at: http://dutar-sounds.ru/ru/contests/music_competition.html