# Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin

Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin (Kazakh: Рахат-Би Төлегенұлы Әбдісағин, born February 2, 1999) is a composer, concert pianist, music theorist and researcher. He is the author of three 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, and cantatas.
His awards include State Youth Award ‘Daryn’ of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2016), Honorary Badge ‘For Merits in the Development of Culture and Art’ of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (2016), he is a member of the Association of Tchaikovsky Competition Stars (2018), winner of the first National Project ‘100 New Faces of Kazakhstan’ (2017). He was awarded the Silver Medal 2024 of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, London, UK

## Biography

Abdyssagin was born in Almaty on February 2, 1999. His father Tolegen Kozhamkulov is a theoretical physicist; his mother Gülmira Esimbaeva is a politician, also educator and lawyer. Rakhat-Bi started composing music at the age of 10. He completed the regular 7-year course at the music academy in 3 years while also studying at an Almaty gymnasium.
Rakhat-Bi became a student of Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatoire at the age of 13, started his Master program at Kazakh National University of Arts at 17, did an internship at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire (Russia) and defended his thesis at 18, thus obtaining a Master of Art Sciences in Composition. In 2015, he joined the International Council for Traditional Music and became the youngest speaker of the ICTM World Conference.
In 2017, Abdyssagin became the youngest PhD student of Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome (majoring in composition) and in 2019 got his PhDs from Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan and Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padua (majoring in piano). In 2024 Rakhat-Bi was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD in Music) degree at the University of St Andrews & Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, UK. He is the first in the history of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to complete the doctoral studies in just two years (ahead of schedule).
In 2022, Verlag Neue Musik Berlin released his Selected Solo Works (Sammelband), a collection of solo scores written specifically for every symphony orchestra instrument. Rakhat-Bi is the second composer in the world to have completed such a large-scale project (he is preceded by the great Luciano Berio (1925-2003) with his cycle of sequenzas).
Rakhat-Bi's compositions are featured in South Illinois University's Global Discography of Music for Piano and Orchestra alongside the classic masterpieces.
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). 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’. In February-March 2024 the world premieres of Rakhat-Bi’s Cathedral Opera ‘The Bruce’ were held in four cities of the UK (Glasgow Cathedral, St Giles’ Cathedral Edinburgh, University of St Andrews - St Salvator's Chapel, Dunfermline Abbey). Rakhat-Bi himself played the pipe organ part.
He is a regular participant of the International Impuls Academy Graz since 2013, 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. At 12 years old, 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 is an author of scholarly articles and books. In 2022, he wrote the textbook ‘The Newest Composing and Performing Techniques’, approved by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
In September 2024, Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin’s new book ‘Quantum Mechanics and Avant-Garde Music: Shadows of the Void’ has been published by Springer Nature. The endorsements for the back cover were written by physicist, Nobel laureate Hugh David Politzer, a mathematician Ian Stewart FRS, and a composer, co-founder of the spectral technique Tristan Murail. The book was reviewed by Ernst Peter Fischer in Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau, 78 Jahrgang, Heft 2, 2025.
In March-April 2023, Rakhat-Bi conducted research in music education as an Affiliate Academic at the University College London. 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 physics and contemporary music, and in October-December 2024, he was an Academic Visitor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, conducting research on applicability of logic and set theory in the structural analysis of the timbral-textural dimension of avant-garde music.
He gave talks and presentations at the scientific seminars at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, LSE, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Tübingen, etc.
Since 2019, Rakhat-Bi is the Founder, Artistic Director and Chairman of Jury of the International Composer Competition ‘New Music Generation’ (Astana, Kazakhstan).

## Compositions

* Childhood Pieces and Sketches (about 30 compositions, several of them published in the author's collection of creative works Edges of Harmony, Almaty 2011). (2008—2010)
* Fantasia (2011)
* Starlight Variations (2011)
* Winter-Qys (2011)
* Petrogliff (2011)
* Tabulatura Nova (2012)
* Landscape (2012)
* Klavierstück (2012)
* Snowflakes in the Starry Sky (2012)
* Messenetique (2012)
* Multiphonarium for flute (2012)
* Brightness (2012)
* Fantasia Murakami (2012)
* Light Through Fog (2012)
* Aqqu (2012)
* Light at the End of the Tunnel (2012)
* Tunneling of Quantum (2013)
* Plateau at Night (2013)
* Bulbul (2013)
* Aurora Polaris (2013)
* Nostalgya (2013)
* Óleń-Poem (2013)
* Suite Aport pour Satie (2013)
* Rondine Piangente (2013)
* Aftersounds of Eternity (2014)
* Thunderbolt (episode from Grand Opera) transcription (2015)
* Stargazer aria (2015)
* Games of not Parallel Lines (2015)
* Feeling of Autumn (2015)
* Fantasia Quasi una Sonata (2015)
* Painting in Sounds für Flöte (2015)
* Ancient Scroll (2016)
* Internal Thoughts (2016)
* Mirror Effect of Ghosts (2016)
* Reverberations of Metric (Gμν) (2016)
* La Canzone Isoritmica del Trovatore (2017)
* Noise of Time (2017)
* Reflection of Essence (2017)
* Over the Vault of Depth for 8 performers (2017)
* The Shadow of Alhambra (2017)
* Lo Sguardo Limpido (2017)
* The Way of a Scarab Beetle (2017)
* Chant Lunaire du Vent (2017)
* L’Aura Sonante (2017)
* Celesti Collisioni (2017)
* A Fleeting Glance Away (2018)
* Fleeting Sketches I, II, III (2018)
* Con Tempo (2018)
* Alta Tensione (2018)
* The Space of Resonance for oboe (2018)
* Omaggio a Ivan Fedele (2018)
* Ombre del Vuoto (Shadows of the Void) (2019)

### Essential symphony orchestra music

* Kazakh Rhapsody for piano and symphony orchestra (2013)
* Forward into the Sunlight for violin and symphony orchestra (2014)
* The Will to Live for piano and symphony orchestra, published by Kompozitor Publishers in Moscow (2015)
* God’s Dwelling for symphony orchestra, published by Kompozitor Publishers in Moscow (2016)
* Aftersounds of Romanticism for symphony orchestra (2017)
* Beyond the Darkness for tenors choir and symphony orchestra on the poetry by Lord Byron (2017)
* Time Run for symphony orchestra (2018)
* Des Pensées de Loin for 24 flutes, a commission by Pierre-Yves Artaud and Orchestre de Flûtes Français (2018)
* Tears of Silence, concerto for piano and symphony orchestra (2018)
* A Drop of Eternity, concerto for violin and symphony orchestra (2018)
* The Sacred Universe of Particles for symphony orchestra (2018)
* Phantom Reflections, concerto for cello and symphony orchestra (2018)
* Phantom Reflections, concerto for cello and symphony orchestra (2018)
* Shadows of the Void (2019)
* Serenade of Invisible Stars (2020)
* Ghosts of Immortality (2020)
* Qubylys (2020)
* I raggi di Dante (2022)
* Quantum Reality
* Chaos and Order (2023)