Hadzhera Avidzba,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Хаджера Авидзба (24 January 1917 – 20 August 1997) was Abkhazia's first professional female

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

. She was a teacher, as well as a performer, and was Head of Lvov Musical College from 1951–1965.

Biography

Avidzba, along with her twin sister Meri, was born on 24 January 1917. In 1930 a new Musical Technical School was opened in

Sukhumi Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...

. One of its first graduates in 1934 was Avidzba, who specialised in

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

. Following her graduation, she began her career as a piano teacher working there, making her Abkhazia's first female professional pianist. During the Great Patriotic War, Avidzba performed in hospitals for wounded soldiers. She continued to teach alongside her war work until 1946, when she moved to

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukra ...

to teach at the

conservatoire A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

there. From 1951 to 1965 she was head of Lviv Musical College, after which period she continued to teach there. She was a leading figure in the formation and development of Abkhazian musical culture. Avidzba's performance repertoire included works by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

, Rachmaninov,

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

, amongst others. She died on 20 August 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avidzba, Hadzhera 1917 births 1997 deaths Women pianists from Georgia (country) Abkhaz people Academic staff of Lviv Conservatory Soviet pianists