Gaziza Zhubanova

Gaziza Akhmetovna Zhubanova (Kazakh: Ғазиза Жұбанова; Russian: Газиза Ахметовна Жубанова; 2 December 1927 – 13 December 1993) is the first Kazakh woman composer.

Life

Gaziza Zhubanova was born 2 December 1927 (some sources state 1928) in a village in the Jurun District, Aktyubinsk. Zhubanova attended school in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, and graduated with honors. She was the daughter of Akhmet Zhubanov, a university educated musician, and grew up in a musical environment.

In 1945 Gaziza Zhubanova began studying at Gnesin Music College in Moscow. After completing her studies there, she studied composition with Yuri Shaporin, at the Moscow Conservatoire. After graduating in 1954, she took additional studies in composition and then in 1957 began a career as a composer.

In 1954, she participated in the Seventh Plenary Meeting of the Kazakh Union of Composers. Gaziza Zhubanova has been Chairman of Kazakh Union of Composers, a member of the board of the USSR Union of Composers and Deputy to the Alma-Ata City Soviet. She often works with the Kazakh Song and Dance Company.

Selected works

Gaziza Zhubanova uses subjects and images from the Kazakh history and folklore. She has composed in different forms, including piano, violin, voice, chorus, string quartet and popular songs.

• Aksak Kulan (1953–1954), symphonic poem
• Booming in the night (1916), opera
• Violin Concerto (1957)
• Melody (Мелодия) in C♯ minor for viola and piano (1950)
• Night Light in the Ural (1957), cantata (words by Khamit Ergaliev)
• Incidental music for On the Banks of the Irtysh (play by S. Kusainov)
• Ode to the Communist Party
• Glory to the Cosmonaut
• Embrace
• Ye Millions!
• Song of Virgin Lands Enthusiasts
• The Song Is the Voice of My Heart
• The Earth, the Moon and Sputnik, ballet (choreography by V. Vainonen)
• Ballade of Mukhtar Auezov, cantata
• A Legend of the White Bird, ballet