The composer and pianist Amina Figarova from Azerbeidjan first specialized in classical music, subsequently composed popular music, then taught music at a conservatory and last but not least performed as a concert pianist in the Sovjet Union. So far the beginning of a remarkable career, because all of this was before she moved to Holland to study at the Rotterdam Conservatory. It was her teacher/musician Rob van Kreeveld who taught Figarova the love of jazz. In 1998 Amina was invited to take part in the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony in Aspen, Colorado: a summer school for the most talented, young musicians. From that moment on Figarova has recorded several albums with beautiful, mysterious music, including Jazz at he Pinehill Volume I + II – Live in Europe with her quintet. She also composed the musical Diana about Lady Di.
