Zlata Tkach Moldavian composer, teacher. Date of Birth: 16.05.1928 Country: Moldova

Biography of Zlata Tkach

Zlata Tkach, born Zlata Beirikhman, was a Moldovan composer and educator. She was the first female professional composer in Moldova. Tkach was awarded the title of Merited Artist of the Moldavian SSR in 1974 and received the State Prize of Moldova in 1982. She was also honored with the Gloria Muncii Order and held the position of professor at the State Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts of Moldova.

Tkach was born in the village of Lozovo, in present-day Straseni District, Moldova. Her family moved to Chisinau when she was less than two years old. She attended a Romanian primary school and then the Regina Maria Romanian Gymnasium in Chisinau. With the arrival of Soviet power in 1940, she transferred to a Russian school. Tkach learned to play the violin under the guidance of her father, who was a violin and wind instruments teacher at the Kishinev Conservatory "National" and a graduate of the "Unirea" Kishinev Conservatory.

During World War II, Tkach and her mother were evacuated to Central Asia, but they got separated during the journey. Tkach ended up in Namangan, Uzbekistan, where she contracted measles and typhoid fever. She was then placed in an evacuated children's home from Drohobych and continued her education in a secondary school. It was during this time that she composed her first song, "Krasnoflotsy" (Red Fleet Sailors). In 1943, she reunited with her family and returned to Chisinau after the city was liberated.

Tkach initially studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kishinev University in 1945 but later transferred to the Musicology Department of the Kishinev Conservatory, which she graduated from in 1952. She studied composition with L.S. Gurov (1910-1993) and violin with I.L. Dailis. From 1952 to 1962, she taught at a music school and at the Stefan Neaga Kishinev Music School. In 1957, she continued her education at the conservatory, specializing in composition. After completing her studies in 1962, she became a teacher at the conservatory and continued to work there until her passing.

Tkach was the first woman in Moldova to dedicate herself to professional composition. Her works encompass a wide range of genres, including concerts, sonatas, string quartets, suites, vocal, choral and instrumental cycles, cantatas, and poems, as well as operas, ballets, instrumental miniatures, music for drama and cinema, and children's songs. Some of her notable compositions include the symphony "Panopticum", the fairy-tale operas "The Goat with Three Kids", "Lenivitsa", "The Flower with Seven Colors", "The Cook and the Boyar", and "The Little Prince". She also wrote chamber operas, such as "Pigeons in a Diagonal Line" and "A Step towards Immortality". Tkach's compositions also include a flute concerto, a piano concerto, vocal cycles, symphonic works, cantatas, and songs for children.

In addition to her classical compositions, Tkach wrote several popular songs in Russian and Moldovan, including "Kasele Moldovei" (Moldovan Houses) and "S-a dus pasarea" (The Bird Has Flown Away). She also composed music for several animated films produced by Moldova-Film. Tkach's husband, Efim Markovich Tkach, was a prominent Moldovan musicologist and author. Her uncle, Mendel (Mikhail) Solomonovich Beirikhman, was a Moldovan portrait artist.

In her later years, Zlata Tkach focused on composing works with Jewish themes, including a requiem poem in Yiddish and Hebrew titled "Yad Va-Shem" and a sonata-extemporization for piano dedicated to the memory of Holocaust victims. She also wrote songs in Yiddish based on the poetry of Jewish poets. Tkach's compositions were performed by various artists, including the Moldovan pianist Gita Strakhilevich. She passed away in 2011, leaving behind a rich and diverse musical legacy.