Saodat Qobulova

Saodat Qobulova was born on 15 December 1925 in Margilan. She first appeared on stage in 1939 at a collective-farm theatre in her home town, then moved to Tashkent and worked from 1941 to 1948 at the Muqimiy Theatre of Musical Drama and Comedy, where she played Qamar, Mohim and Nurkhon. During the war she gave concerts for army units and in hospitals.

From 1948 to 1954 she studied at the Uzbek opera studio attached to the Moscow Conservatory; her teachers included K. Vaskova and D. Belyavskaya. From 1954 to 1986 she was a soloist of the Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theatre. Her voice was a coloratura soprano.

The core of her repertoire was Uzbek opera: Zuhra in “Tahir and Zuhra”, Layli in “Layli and Majnun”, Dilorom in “Dilorom”, Oykhon in “Maysara’s Tricks” and Huri in “Zaynab and Omon”. She also sang parts in operas by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Bizet — Violetta, Gilda, Mimì, Rosina, Leïla. In concert she performed folk songs, excerpts from the maqom cycles, romances and works by Uzbek and foreign composers.

In 1957 she won first prize at the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow. She toured India, Burma, Afghanistan, Thailand, Cambodia, East Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Canada, Mongolia and many cities of the Soviet Union.

Her titles were conferred by the state: Honoured Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1956, People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1957 and People’s Artist of the USSR in 1959. After independence she received the orders “Do’stlik” (1998) and “For Outstanding Merit” (2001).

She graduated from the Tashkent State Conservatory in 1969 and began teaching there the same year; she became a professor in 1986 and headed the department of academic singing in 1988–1997, training many young vocalists.

Saodat Qobulova died in Tashkent on 12 October 2007 and was buried at the Chigatay cemetery. The Uzbektelefilm studio made two films about her, “Saodat” and “Saodat Qobulova Sings” (1991).