Rubin Abdullin

Rubin Abdullin is a Soviet and Russian pianist, organist, teacher, and musical public figure, born on August 19, 1950, in Yoshkar-Ola. He studied piano at the Kazan State Conservatory, graduating in 1973 in the class of E. A. Monaszon, and in 1974 completed organ studies at the Leningrad State Conservatory. In 1979 he finished an assistant internship at the Moscow State Conservatory.

His academic career has been closely tied to the Kazan State Conservatory. From 1973 to 1975 he taught at the department of special piano, first as a teacher and from 1975 to 1979 as a senior teacher. Between 1979 and 1992 he served as associate professor of the department of special piano and organ, and from 1992 to 1998 he was professor of the same department. From 1988 to 2021 he was rector of the N. G. Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory (Academy). Since 1998 he has headed the organ and harpsichord department, and as of the beginning of 2025 he is acting head of the organ and harpsichord department of the Moscow Conservatory.

Abdullin has also held a number of professional positions in musical life. He is a member of the International Union of Musical Figures, a member of the presidium of the educational-methodical association of higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation in the field of musical art, and chairman of the Union of Organists of Russia.

As a performer, he has maintained an active concert career. His extensive repertoire includes music from the fifteenth through the twentieth centuries. He is the author and performer of large concert cycles that cover different historical and stylistic stages in the development of world organ art. He has toured widely in many cities of Russia, in European countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as in the United States.

Abdullin is also the author of articles on problems of musical art and the compiler and editor of several collections of works for organ and piano, including a collection of organ works by composers of Tatarstan. His discography listed in the article includes Camille Saint-Saens's Symphony in C minor for organ and orchestra, conducted by Fuat Mansurov and issued in Kazan in 1997, and Johann Sebastian Bach's Klavierubung, Part III, issued in Yekaterinburg in 2000.

Among his distinctions are the Musa Jalil Tatar Komsomol Prize in 1988, the title People's Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan in 1992, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 1997, the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 1999, and the title People's Artist of the Russian Federation in 2007. He was also included in the encyclopedia Pride of the City of Kazan in 2005.