composer

Abdyssagin Rakhat-Bi Tolegenuly (born 02.02.1999, Kazakhstan) – is a composer, pianist, researcher. Winner of the State Youth Award ‘Daryn’ of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2016), holder of the Honorary Badge ‘For Merits in the Development of Culture and Art’ of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (2016), member of the Association of Tchaikovsky Competition Stars (2018). Winner of the first National Project ‘100 New Faces of Kazakhstan’ (2017).
Rakhat-Bi, who is called the Kazakh Mozart, from the age of 9 composes music. He is the author of 3 Operas – ‘The Path lit by the Sun’ (2019), ‘The Mysterious Lady’ (2019) and ‘The Bruce’ (2023) – and more than 150 music compositions, ranging from solos, duos, trios, quartets, quintets, chamber and vocal works to symphonies, concertos, cantatas, and large-scale orchestral canvases such as ‘Kazakh rhapsody’, ‘Forward into the Sunlight’, ‘The Will to Live’, ‘God’s Dwelling’, ‘Aftersounds of Romanticism’, ‘Beyond the Darkness’, ‘Time Run’, ‘Des pensées de loin’, ‘Tears of Silence’, ‘A drop of Eternity’, ‘The Sacred Universe of Particles’, ‘Phantom reflections’, ‘Ghosts of Immortality’, ‘Qubylys’, ‘I raggi di Dante’, ‘Chaos and Order’ etc.
His scores are published by European and Russian editions. Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin’s ‘Selected Solo Works’ (Sammelband), published by Verlag Neue Musik Berlin (Germany, 2022), became a significant event. This anthology includes the most selected works for each instrument solo of symphony orchestra. Such a large-scale project was previously carried out only by the great Italian composer Luciano Berio (1925-2003).
Music of R.-B.Abdyssagin is performed in the famous concert halls of Europe, Asia and America, including prestigious venues such as Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Konzerthaus, Salzburg Mozarteum, Carnegie Hall (New York), Royal Festival Hall (London), UNESCO Headquarters (Paris), the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing), St George’s Hall – Grand Kremlin Palace (Moscow), D.D.Shostakovich Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, Grand Hall of Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, including all major concert halls of Kazakhstan etc. German critics say: ‘music of Rakhat-Bi has a special structure and mathematical precision. It is full of poetry and passion’.
He himself often plays the piano solo part, and also gives symphonic portrait concerts and solo recitals. At the age of 19 he was honoured to play a solo recital on the historic piano of P.I.Tchaikovsky in his House-Museum in Klin (Russia). In February-March 2024 the world premieres of Rakhat-Bi’s new Cathedral Opera ‘The Bruce’ were held in four cities of the UK (Glasgow Cathedral, St Giles’ Cathedral Edinburgh, University of St Andrews, Dunfermline Abbey). Rakhat-Bi himself played the pipe organ part.
Three of his piano CDs have been released in Germany (Kreuzberg Records, 2021-2023): ‘Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin plays Chopin and Liszt’, ‘Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin plays Viennese Classics: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven’, ‘Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin plays Beethoven’.
Rakhat-Bi received fundamental basic knowledge in natural sciences and humanities at Kazakh Y.Altynsarin school-gymnasium №159 in Almaty, from which he graduated with honours at the age of 15. At the same time he studied in music school, and also conducted research. At the age of 12 he published a collection of his music compositions ‘Facets of Harmony’. At 14 he published a unique work ‘Mathematics and Contemporary Music’, which won the first prize at the VII International Competition of scientific projects ‘Mathematics & Projecting’, Moscow.
Rakhat-Bi during 4 years mastered the 7-year programme of M.Tulebaev Music School №5, and at the age of 13 years old he became an undergraduate student of Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory. At 17 – a graduate student of Kazakh National University of Arts, he did an internship at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. At 18 he brilliantly defended his master’s dissertation. At the age of 20 he completed the postgraduate studies at three most prestigious music institutions in Italy: Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan (Master di II Livello in composition), Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padua (Master in II Livello in piano), as well as Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (Corso di Perfezionamento in composition). This is the highest level of professional music education in Europe, and each of these studies is considered to be analogous and equivalent to artistic Doctorate/PhD. Since 2020 he is the Senior Lecturer at Kazakh National University of Arts. In 2022 he wrote the textbook ‘The Newest Composing and Performing Techniques’, approved by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
He speaks Kazakh, Russian, English, Italian. He is a regular participant of the International Impuls Academy Graz since 2013, the youngest lecturer of the ICTM 2015, ISA scholarship holder (Mürzzuschlag, 2015), participant of the festivals KlangZeitMünster 2016, Sermoneta (Italy, 2017) and others. From the age of 13 he lectures internationally on culture and arts.
Rakhat-Bi is an author of a number of peer-reviewed scholarly articles (e.g. ‘Contemporary music as an echo of time’, ‘The newest composition techniques and contemporary music genealogy’) and books: ‘The Divine Path’ (2017), ‘Ten Touches to the Sounding Universe’ (2017), ‘Serenade of Invisible Stars’ (2020), ‘A drop of Eternity’ (2021) etc.
In March-April 2023 he conducted research in music education as an Affiliate Academic at the University College London (IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society). In October-December 2023 Rakhat-Bi was a Visiting Scholar at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, where he continued his research on correlations between quantum mechanics and contemporary music.
Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin’s new book ‘Quantum Mechanics and Avant-Garde Music: The Shadows of the Void’ has been accepted for publication by Springer Nature (under contract) – one of the top academic publishers in the world, which in 1920s published breakthrough works of A.Einstein, M.Planck, N.Bohr, M.Born, W.Pauli, W.Heisenberg and other legendary scientists.
Since 2019 Rakhat-Bi is the Founder, Artistic Director and Chairman of Jury of the annual International Composer Competition ‘New Music Generation’ (Astana, Kazakhstan).

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