Lutfi Kabirova
Lutfi Rahimjonovna Kabirova () (October 10, 1932 – May 19, 2013), was a Tajikistani opera singer of the Soviet era. Kabirova was born into a working-class family in Samarkand, and graduated from the Dushanbe School of Music in 1949, after which she entered the voice department of the Moscow Conservatory. A soprano, she graduated from that institution in 1954 and at once joined the roster of the Ayni Theater of Opera and Ballet. She sang roles in operas by numerous Tajikistani composers, including Niso in "Bakhtiar and Niso" by Sergey Balasanian (1954), Gulru in "Pulod and Gulru" by Sharofiddin  Saifiddinov (1957), Surma in "The Famous Son-in-Law" by Samuil Urbakh (1961), and Malohat in "Return" by Yaikhel Sabzanov (1967). Other roles in her repertory included Tatiana in "Eugene Onegin", Lisa in "The Queen of Spades", Desdemona in "Otello", Bess in "Porgy and Bess", the title roles in "Aida" and "Madama Butterfly", Katerina in "The Taming of the Shrew" by Vissarion Shebalin, and Natasha in "Quiet Flows the Don" by Ivan Dzerzhinsky. She also performed in operetta, notably in such works as "Die Csárdásfürstin" and "Countess Maritza" by Emmerich Kálmán; in concert she mingled the work of Tajikistani and  foreign composers. Kabirova traveled both within the Soviet Union and abroad during her career. She was named a People's Artist of the USSR for her work in 1977, and received such other awards as the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Honour of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Tajik SSR.