French music and poetry evening was held at the Baku Book Center on Oct. 21. The event was organized in partnership with the Embassy of France in Azerbaijan.

The event was attended by representatives of creative and intellectual circles and foreign guests.

Addressing the participants, Director of the Baku Book Center, Gunel Rzayeva, spoke about the close ties between Azerbaijan and France in the field of culture. She also stressed the great role of President Ilham Aliyev and First lady Mehriban Aliyeva in the development and strengthening of relations between the two states.

Speaking at the event, Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan, Mrs. Aurelia Bouchet, expressed her gratitude to the Baku Book Center for help in organizing the evening devoted to French culture.

Mrs. Bouchet highly appreciated the fact that the Center has a large collection of books in French, which is a sign of respect for French culture and literature.

The honored artist of Russia, pianist Alexander Gindin, laureate of international contests, pianist Daniil Sayamov, laureate of international musical contests Saida Taghizade, honored artist of Azerbaijan Alexei Miltikhin performed pieces by great French composers Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saens, Claude Debussy and great Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev.

At the literary part of the evening Mrs. Aurelia Bouchet read poems by French authors and shared interesting information about them.

The audience also warmly welcomed the performances of the national artist of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Zeki, and second-year students of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, who read poems by the famous 19-century French poet Paul Verlaine.

Well-known actress Natella Kerimova read excerpts from the poem “October night" by French writer, poet and playwright Alfred De Musset.