Murad Kajlayev

Murad Magomedovich Kazhlayev (15 January 193123 December 2023) was a Russian and Lak composer and conductor. He was a People's Artist of the USSR, (2016), and laureate of international premiums and contests. He was also Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the , a professor and academician at Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

Biography Murad Kajlayev was born on 15 January 1931 in Baku to a Lak family.

He graduated from Baku State Conservatoire from the composition class of . He was expelled from there for his ardour for practicing non-academic musical genres but soon he was reclaimed. He worked as a teacher at a musical school named after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in Makhachkala, as a chief conductor of the Dagestan Radio Symphonic Orchestra (1957–1958), artistic director of the Dagestan Philharmonic Hall (1963–1964) and secretary of administration of the Union of Soviet Composers (from 1968).

Awards

Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation (2021) Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1960) People's Artist of the USSR (1981) Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1971) Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" of the III and IV degrees (2008, 1995) Order of Friendship (2014) The honorary diploma of the President of Azerbaijan for his services to the development of cultural ties between Azerbaijan and Russia (2021) Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR (1970)

Family His father was Magomed Davudovich (1894-1963; otolaryngologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences), his mother was Yelena Mikhailovna (1908-1983; phoniatrician).

He was married to Valida Islamovna Kajlayeva. His son is Hadjimurat Kajlayev (born 1962).