ilaha Qismat

Ilaha Gismat Abdullayeva is a composer, Doctor of Philosophy in Art Studies, a member of staff at the Baku Music Academy, Secretary of the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan, and chair of the Support for the Development of Cultural Relations public union. Ilaha Gismat Abdullayeva was born in Baku in 1993. From 1999 she studied Piano, Mugham performance and Composition at the Bulbul Secondary Specialised Music School. In 2010 she entered the Composition department of the Uzeyir Hajibeyli Baku Music Academy, studying in the class of the eminent composer Arif Malikov, and completed both her bachelor's and master's degrees with honours. She also studied symphony orchestra conducting as a second specialisation. During her studies she was awarded the Gara Garayev scholarship. In 2016 her monograph "The main features of Gulnaz Abdullazade's work as a composer" was published. From 2017 she pursued doctoral studies at the Baku Music Academy, and on 22 October 2025 successfully defended her dissertation on "The Traditional Music of the Shamakhi Region of Azerbaijan". Her research has taken her to international academic conferences in Cyprus, Turkey, Qatar and other countries, and she is the author of numerous scholarly articles. As a composer, her works have been performed on stages in the USA, Italy, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Russia, Estonia, Germany, Israel and Georgia, among others. She has won local and international competitions, and has taken part in the Uzeyir Hajibeyli International Music Festival, the Gabala International Music Festival, the Novus Via Music Festival and other respected festivals. She is the author of the ballets "Dede Gorgud" and "Iron Fist", of "The Ozan of a Victorious People" — the first poem written for saz and symphony orchestra — and of other large-scale works. She has been a member of staff at the Baku Music Academy since 2014. In 2017 she was admitted to the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan. In 2019 she was appointed head of its Youth Work Department and later elected to its board. Since April 2026 she has served as Secretary of the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan.