Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina (b.1931).
Gubaidulina was born in the Tatar Autonomous Republic. Her music has a strong religious basis. She started with chamber music, then explored the potentials of orchestral and vocal genres. One of the world's leading woman composers. Since 1992 living in Germany. She is a member of the musical academies in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stockholm.
Gubaidulina has received the Prix de Monaco (1987), the Premio Franco Abbiati (1991), the Heidelberger Künstlerinnenpreis (1991), the Russian State Prize (1992), the SpohrPreis (1995), the Praemium Imperiale in Japan (1998), the Sonning Award in Denmark (1999), the Polar Music Prize in Sweden (2002), the Great Distinguished Service Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2002) and the Living Composer Prize of the Cannes Classical Awards in 2003.
In 2004, she was elected as a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.