Kuliash Zhasymovna Baiseitova

(pseudonym of K. Zh. Gul’bakhram). Born Apr. 20 (May 2), 1912, in Vernyi (Alma-Ata); died June 6, 1957, in Moscow; buried in Alma-Ata. Soviet Kazakh opera performer; lyric coloratura soprano. People’s Artist of the USSR (1936). Member of the CPSU from 1943.

Baiseitova was one of the founders of the Kazakh operatic art. She first began singing in amateur artistic groups. Beginning in 1934 she was a soloist at the Music Theater, and from 1937 at the Kazakh Theater of Opera and Ballet. Baiseitova created vivid musical and stage characters in Kazakh operas. She was the first performer of the principal roles in Brusilovskii’s operas Kyz-Zhibek and Er-Targyn, Tulebaev’s Birzhan and Sara (State Prize of the USSR, 1949), and many others. She also appeared as a concert singer (State Prize of the USSR, 1948). Baiseitova was a deputy to the first through third convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR. She was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.