Elizaveta Gilels was a Soviet and Russian violinist and music teacher. She was born on 30 September 1919 in Odessa and died on 13 March 2008 in Moscow. In 1977 she was awarded the title Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
She was born into the family of Grigory Gilels, an accountant at a sugar factory, and Gesya Gilels, who managed the household and raised the children. The family lived modestly in the Moldavanka district of Odessa. She was the sister of the pianist Emil Gilels.
Gilels began her musical studies with the noted Odessa teacher Pyotr Stolyarsky and later studied in Moscow with Abram Yampolsky. At the beginning of her career she performed in a duo with her brother Emil Gilels. Her highest competitive achievement was winning third place at the Ysaÿe Violin Competition in Brussels in 1937.
After marrying the violinist Leonid Kogan, she turned to teaching work. During the Second World War she was evacuated to Sverdlovsk. From 1966 she taught at the Moscow Conservatory, and in 1987 she became a professor. Among her students were Ilya Grubert, Ilya Kaler, Stefan Yakiv, and Sasha Rozhdestvensky.
She was also awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour on 3 June 1937 for exceptional achievements in the field of musical art. She was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.