A kobyz player from Bukhar-Zhyrau district became the first at the Golden Time Talent international competition

Twenty-two-year-old kobyz player from Bukhar-Zhyrau district Shakhnaze Ilyassova took first place at the international online competition Golden Time Talent and will represent Kazakhstan at the festival of the same name in the UK.

Shakhnaze Ilyassova is a native of the village of Botakara. He has been engaged in music since childhood. Even in elementary school, my mother sent the girl to a local music school, to kobyz's class. Since then, Shakhnaze has not parted with his favorite instrument and participates in various national and international competitions, charity concerts. She is a graduate of the Karaganda Tattimbet College of Arts.

– I've been studying music since the third grade. I play the prima kobyz professionally. It is one of the most important instruments in the orchestra. It is more difficult to play the kobyz than the violin or guitar, since there are no special divisions on the instrument by notes. You just need to feel it," says Shakhnaze. – I play the piano and saxophone as an amateur. I write poetry and music. But it's also more of a hobby.

The girl took part in the Golden Time Talent competition remotely. She sent videos of the performance of three works – this is a Concert for Prima Kobyz with the orchestra of Arman Zhaim, "Montague and Capulet" by Sergei Prokofiev and One Summer's Day by Joy Hisaishi.

– When performing the first piece, I was accompanied on the piano instead of the orchestra, and musicians from the Orchestra of Canada helped with the presentation of the latter. They agreed to play with me so that I would record a video for the competition," Shahnaze shares. – All three of my videos were in the top in terms of views, I was only one and a half points short of the Grand Prix. Nevertheless, I have already been invited to the festival, which will be held this year in London. I really want to go to it. But we need financial support, because we need to pay for the flight, think over the stage image.

Now Shakhnaze teaches playing the kobyz at the Center “Rukhaniyat” for Additional Education in Botakara. She has more than 10 students.

Shakhnaze has many victories in creative and musical competitions.

She is a multiple winner of republican contests, as well as a laureate of the first degree of the International Competition-Festival within the framework of the Siberia Lights the Stars project (Russia, 2017).

She also does volunteer work and is a member of the UNESCO club.