Sofia Gubaidulina

* 1931 in Chistopol; Russian composer; studied piano and composition at the Kazan Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory; freelance composer from 1963, whose work was at times subject to reprisals under the Soviet regime; became internationally known through Gidon Kremer’s worldwide advocacy of her violin concerto Offertorium (1980); moved to Germany in 1992; honoured with the Japanese Praemium Imperiale (1998) and admitted to the Order Pour le Mérite.