Isfar Sarabski

Who is Isfar Sarabski?

Isfar Rzayev-Sarabski- Azerbaijani pianist, composer. Winner Solo Piano Competition Montreux Jazz Festival 2009. Honoured Artist of the Azerbaijan Republic, laureate of the Zirva State Prize.

Great-grandson of Huseyngulu Sarabski, the celebrated Azerbaijani opera singer, actor and one of the founders of Eastern opera. Graduate of specialist music school, Baku Music Academy and currently studying at Berklee College of Music. Has played in the most prestigious concert halls, including: the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Miles Davis Hall, the Vibrato Jazz Club, the Zinco Jazz Club, the Konzerthaus, Asphalt Jazz Club, Duc des Lombards Jazz Club, Porgy & Bess Jazz Club, Bird’s Eye Jazz Club and the Apollo Theater.

Isfar Sarabski has played in festivals in Switzerland, Norway, France, Russia and Georgia. Also at UNESCO’s Paris HQ in April 2012 for ‘International Jazz Day’ with Herbie Hancock and Friends, for which he received a letter of thanks from UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. In 2012-2013 he was invited to a gala concert in New York by the Jazz Foundation of America.

In 2011 he formed the Isfar Sarabski Trio with Muscovite Alexander Mashin and Makar Novikov. The trio has played many festivals and concert venues in America and Europe.