Elmira Nəzirova

Elmira Mirza Rza-kyzy Nazirova (; 30 November 1928 – 23 January 2014) was an Azerbaijani composer. Born to a Georgian Jewish family, she was a child prodigy who excelled at music and trained at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory for several years. At 14, she became one of the youngest members of the Composers Union of Azerbaijan. Nazirova performed abroad, where her talent was recognised by prominent musicians, and she pursued an education at the Moscow Conservatory. Through her education there, she met and became lifelong friends with Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich, having significant impact on his work, particularly his Tenth Symphony.

Nazirova is regarded as one of the best Azerbaijani and one of the first female composers in Azerbaijan. She taught at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory for decades, with pupils including Aida Huseynova. In 1990, she moved to Israel, where she died in 2014.

Biography Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 30 November 1928, Nazirova joined the Baku Academy of Music, where she was identified as a child prodigy and placed in a special program for gifted students alongside Chingiz Sadykhov and Bella Davidovich. At age 14, she became one of the youngest members of the Composers Union of Azerbaijan. Two years later, her Piano Preludes were performed at the "Decade of Music of the Transcaucasian Republics" in Tbilisi, Georgia, where her talent was noted by prominent musicians such as Reinhold Gliere. By the 1950s, she toured widely, performing in Russia, Georgia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, and Iraq.

Her legacy includes an overture for symphony orchestra, three piano concertos, and adaptations of Azerbaijani folk melodies and romances. A highlight of her career is the Piano Concerto on an Arabic Theme, co-composed with Fikret Amirov. She died on 23 January 2014 in Israel.