The authorities in Kazan have reported the death of Sofia Gubaidulina, a leader of her generation, at the age of 93. Friends tell us she died early this morning
A contemplative, spiritual modernist, she was born in Christopol of mixed Tatar and Russian parentage. She studied in Moscow and worked intensively with electronics while attending church and leading, in some senses, a double life in the USSR. Dmitri Shostakovich gave her quiet encouragement. In 1979, she was blacklisted by the Composers Union boss, Tikhon Khrennikov, as part of a crackdown on modernism.
In 1992, she left Russia and settled in Hamburg, where her contemporary Alfred Schnittke had moved. Unllkikke Schnittke, she sought neither fame nor approval. Her last major premiere was with the Boston Symphony and Andris Nelsons in 2017.
(Photo by Winslow Townson)
The post Legendary Russian composer, RIP appeared first on Slippedisc.
