Ikram Akbarov

Ikram Ilkhamovich Akbarov (Ikrom Akbarov in Uzbek) was born on 1 March 1921 in Tashkent; he was a nephew of the musicologist Ilyas Akbarov. He began his musical education in the piano department of the Hamza Music College in Tashkent and then studied in the composition faculty of the Tashkent Conservatory (1939–1945); his teachers in Tashkent included Yu. Fortunatov, S. Vasilenko, L. Revutsky and A. Kozlovsky. He began composing professionally in 1941.

After graduating from the Tashkent Conservatory in 1945, he went on to the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied in the classes of M. Steinberg and later B. Arapov and V. Voloshinov; he graduated in 1950 and took postgraduate courses there in 1950–1953. In 1954–1957 he taught theoretical subjects at the Tashkent Conservatory.

Akbarov’s name is linked above all with the formation of Uzbek symphonic music. In 1954 he wrote the symphonic poem “In Memory of the Poet”, dedicated to Hamza, followed by the “Epic Poem”, “Samarkand Stories” and the choral symphony “Hamsa” on poems by Navoi. The five movements of “Samarkand Stories” alternate slow and fast movements, as maqom cycles do. He also wrote three violin concertos, six string quartets and two symphonies (1996 and 1998).

His stage works include the ballets “Orzu” (“Dream”), “Layli and Majnun” and “Navruz”, the operas “The Leopard of Sogdiana” (1977) and “The Primordial Mistake”, the oratorios “Toshkentnoma” (1964) and “Eternal Memory” (1985), and musical dramas and comedies. In 1957 he wrote the score for the film “In the Name of Happiness” and became one of the first composers of Uzbek film music; he later wrote for other films and plays. His works were performed abroad as well.

He received the Order of the Badge of Honour in 1959, the title of Honoured Art Worker of the Uzbek SSR in 1964 and that of People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1981. In 1977 he was awarded the State Hamza Prize of the Uzbek SSR for the choral symphony “Hamsa” and the symphony “Samarkand”, and in 1999 the Order “El-yurt hurmati”.

Ikram Akbarov died in Tashkent on 18 December 2011.