Lydia Aksyonova
Lydia Aksyonova was a Soviet and Moldovan conductor, teacher, conducting theorist, and music writer. Born in Pokrovsk on July 19, 1923, she studied ballet, painting, and piano as a child and sang at home. After graduating from school in 1941, she initially enrolled at the Saratov Medical Institute. In 1944, she left medicine to study at the Saratov Conservatory with singer and teacher Alevtina Paskhalova.
Aksyonova met pianist Max Fishman while studying at the conservatory, and they married in 1945. The couple continued their studies at the Belarusian Conservatory in Minsk. After the birth of her first son in 1946, Aksyonova lost her singing voice and, on Paskhalova’s advice, transferred first to the symphonic conducting department and then to choral conducting. She studied conducting with S. L. Ratner and N. F. Maslov.
After graduating in 1952, Aksyonova taught in Gomel and then moved to Chisinau to join the Moldavian State Conservatory. She led its choral conducting department and choir, conducted the orchestra at the A. P. Chekhov State Russian Drama Theater, and prepared productions for the opera stage. She was the first woman in Moldova to conduct a symphony orchestra and the first woman there to become a professor of choral conducting.
From 1964 to 1979, Aksyonova directed the choir at the E. Coca Special Music School. Its repertoire included about 200 works, ranging from major pieces of Russian and Western classical music to sacred music and avant-garde works. Moldovan composers wrote music for the choir, which performed in Moldova and elsewhere and appeared on radio and television. Aksyonova also organized large-scale Song Festivals and led their combined children’s choir.
Her teaching career lasted more than 70 years, and she trained over 350 specialists. She wrote methodological guides, repertoire references, and teaching programs, including works on rehearsing choirs, Moldovan choral music, and Moldovan composers’ music for children. Aksyonova was named an Honored Artist of Moldova and received the Order of Labor Glory and the Order of Honor in 2013. She died in Chisinau on September 18, 2019, and was buried at Saint Lazarus Cemetery.
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