Sofia Gubaidulina

• Sofia Gubaidulina is, together with Schnittke and Denisov, one of three major Moscow composers of the post-Shostakovich era
• Of half-Tartar, half-Slav extraction
• Music strikingly combines spiritual and dramatic, with daring and transparently original colours
• One of earliest Soviet composers to show a deep interest in religious themes
• Music can at one extreme be improvisatory such as Garden of Joys and Sorrows for flute, viola and harp, and at the other extreme be strictly organised on ancient mystical principles such as the orchestral works Symphony: Stimmen… verstummen and Zeitgestalten
• Particular interest in setting visionary and prophetic texts by T.S.Eliot, Marina Tsvetaeva and Gennadi Aigi
• Aural imagination developed through sonic experiments in her film music
• Has been commissioned by world’s finest performers including Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Mstislav Rostropovich, the Kronos and Arditti Quartets, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Sir Simon Rattle

Works by Sofia Gubaidulina include:
Offertorium (1980 rev.1986) for violin and orchestra
St. John Passion (2000) for soprano, tenor, baritone, bass, two mixed choirs and orchestra
The Light of the End for orchestra (2003)

Works by Gubaidulina are represented by Boosey & Hawkes/Sikorski for the world

Looking Ahead: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performs The Wrath of God at Salzburg Easter Festival under Andris Nelsons (2 Apr); Baiba Skride is violin soloist in Offertorium in Tokyo (13 May) and Dutch premiere of Dialogue: I and You in Utrecht (19 May)

"I am a religious Russian Orthodox person and I understand ‘religion’ in the literal meaning of the word, as ‘re-ligio’, that is to say the restoration of connections, the restoration of the ‘legato’ of life. There is no more serious task for music than this." — Sofia Gubaidulina