Background

Tofig Bakikhanov, a descendant of Baku khans, was born in Baku on 8 December 1930, in the family of Ahmed–agha Bakikhanov, People’s Artist of Azerbaijan. He began his musical activity as a violinist. In 1953, Bakikhanov graduated from the Azerbaijan State Conservatory specializing in violin, where Fikret Amirov was his teacher. In 1957, he majored in music composing, where his teacher was another prominent Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev.

From 1950 to 1953, Bakikhanov worked as a violinist in the trio of the Azerbaijan Philharmonic Society. In 1953, he was the teacher and head of the string department of the Zeynally Baku College of Music. In 1966, he managed the department of arts edition and from 1968, the department of note-music literature of the Azernashr publishing house. From 1970, Bakikhanov began to work as the senior teacher of the department of chamber music and as the dean of the performing program of the Azerbaijan Conservatory.

Bakikhanov died on 23 August 2026, at the age of 95.[1]

Creativity

Bakikhanov was the author of concerts for violin, violoncello, flute, oboe, dual concerts, musical comedies. He was later a professor at Baku Academy of Music. Starting from 1969, Bakikhanov performed recitals in Paris, Moscow, Tbilisi, Istanbul, İzmir, Tehran and in other cities.[2]