Aiman Musakhodzhayeva is a Soviet and Kazakh violinist, music educator, and professor. Born on 15 March 1958 in Almaty, in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, she became a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 1998. She served for many years as rector of the Kazakh National University of Arts, from 1998 to 2024.
Musakhodzhayeva was one of four daughters whose parents enrolled them in music school. Her sisters included Raisa Musakhodzhayeva, a violinist; Raushan Musakhodzhayeva, a kobyz player; and Bakhytzhan Musakhodzhayeva, a cellist. Aiman began appearing in concerts at the age of seven, and at thirteen she first performed Saint-Saëns's Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with an orchestra. Her talent was recognized and developed by the teacher N. M. Patrusheva.
In 1975, she graduated from the Kulyash Bayseitova Republican Special Music School in Almaty. She completed her studies at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory in 1983, where she studied in the class of Professor Valery Klimov.
From 1983 to 1990, Musakhodzhayeva was an instrumental soloist with the Jambyl Kazakh State Philharmonic. Her repertoire included works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Kazakh composers. In 1990 she became an associate professor in the violin department of the Kurmangazy Almaty State Conservatory, subsequently leading the department until 1993. She became a professor in 1993 and headed the string-instrument department in 1997–1998.
In 1993, she founded the State Chamber Orchestra Academy of Soloists and became its artistic director. From the same year, she served on the juries of the International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition, the International Michelangelo Abbado Violin Competition, and the International A. Yampolsky Violin Competition.
Musakhodzhayeva founded the Kazakh National Academy of Music in Astana in 1998 and was appointed its rector. The institution was renamed the Kazakh National University of Arts in 2009; she remained its rector until January 2024.
Her competition distinctions include awards and diplomas at international competitions in Belgrade in 1976, Genoa in 1981, Tokyo in 1983, Helsinki in 1985, and the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1986. She was named People's Artist of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in 1986 and received Kazakhstan's Lenin Komsomol Prize for high performing mastery in 1988. Her further honors include Kazakhstan's State Prize in Literature, Art and Architecture in 2000 for her concert activity of 1995–1999, the Platinum Tarlan music prize in 2002, and the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture in Poland in 2011.