Akhmet Zhubanov

Born Apr. 16 (29), 1906, on the Kosuaktam natural boundary, in present-day Aktiubinsk Oblast; died May 30, 1968, in Alma-Ata. Soviet musicologist, composer, and conductor. People’s Artist of the Kazakh SSR (1944), academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR (1946). Member of the CPSU from 1940.

In 1932, Zhubanov graduated from the department of history and theory of music at the Leningrad Conservatory. He was a founder of Kazakh professional musical art and musicology. He was the author of books, sketches, and articles, mainly on Kazakh folk music. Zhubanov’s musical works include the operas Abai (1944) and Tulegen Tokhtarov (1947), composed jointly with L. A. Khamidi, the symphonic poem Abai, and numerous arrangements of songs by Kazakh folk composers such as Kurmangazy and Dauletkerei. From 1934 to 1945, Zhubanov was the organizer and conductor of the Kurmangazy Orchestra, and from 1935 to 1937 he was the art director of the Dzhambul Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1961 he became the director of the music department of the Auezov Institute of Literature and Art. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, two other orders, and also medals.