Lutfi Rahimjonovna Kabirova ( tg, Лутфӣ Раҳимҷоновна Кабирова; October 7, 1932 – May 19, 2013) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

i opera singer.

Biography

Kabirova was born into a working-class family in

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

, and graduated from the

Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (r ...

School of Music in 1949, after which she entered the voice department of the Moscow Conservatory. A

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

, she graduated from that institution in 1954 and at once joined the roster of the Ayni Theater of Opera and Ballet. She sang roles in operas by numerous Tajikistani composers, including Niso in ''Bakhtiar and Niso'' by

Sergey Balasanian Sergey Artemyevich Balasanian (russian: Серге́й Арте́мьевич Баласаня́н; 13 August 1902 in Ashgabat, Russian Empire13 June 1982 Moscow, Russian SFSR) was a Soviet Armenian composer. He taught composition in the Moscow ...

(1954), Gulru in ''Pulod and Gulru'' by Sharofiddin Saifiddinov (1957), Surma in ''The Famous Son-in-Law'' by Samuil Urbakh (1961), and Malohat in ''Return'' by Yaikhel Sabzanov (1967). Other roles in her repertory included Tatiana in '' Eugene Onegin'', Lisa in '' The Queen of Spades'', Desdemona in ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

'', Bess in ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', itse ...

'', the title roles in '' Aida'' and ''

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...

'', Katerina in ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...

'' by Vissarion Shebalin, and Natasha in '' Quiet Flows the Don'' by Ivan Dzerzhinsky. She also performed in operetta, notably in such works as ''

Die Csárdásfürstin ' (''The Csárdás Princess''; translated into English as ''The Riviera Girl'' and ''The Gipsy Princess'') is an operetta in 3 acts by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán, with libretto by Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach. It premiered in Vienna at the ...

'' and '' Countess Maritza'' by Emmerich Kálmán; in concert she mingled the work of Tajikistani and foreign composers. Kabirova traveled both within the Soviet Union and abroad during her career. She was named a

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and significan ...

for her work in 1977, and received such other awards as the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Honour of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Tajik SSR.

References

1932 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Tajikistani women singers 20th-century women opera singers 21st-century Tajikistani women singers 21st-century women opera singers People from Samarkand Moscow Conservatory alumni People's Artists of Tajikistan People's Artists of the USSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Tajik-language singers Soviet operatic sopranos Tajikistani operatic sopranos {{opera-singer-stub