Adalyat Issiyeva

Biography

Adalyat Issiyeva holds a Bachelor of Music from Almaty State Conservatoire and completed master’s and doctoral work at McGill University. Shifting from an ethnomusicological focus (“Philosophical and Religious Aspects of Uighur Muqam”) to western European early music, her master’s research, “Ostinato Motets by Josquin des Prez,” investigated number symbolism and compositional techniques in renaissance music. She completed her doctoral dissertation titled “Russian Orientalism: From Ethnography to Art-Song in Russian Nineteenth-Century Music” in 2014. Her studies were funded by scholarships from the Social Studies and Humanities Council of Canada (SSHRC), Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture (FRQSC), and McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. She has published articles in several journals and collections of articles. Her book Representing Russia’s Orient, published by Oxford University Press, explores the political implications of nineteenth-century Russian art songs with oriental subjects. Her most recent research addresses the state-regulated formation of musical identities for ethnic minorities under the Stalin regime.

Research Interests

Nineteenth-Century western-European and Russian music

Orientalism, nationalism and identity formation

Ethnography of Central Asian music and culture

Politics of representation

Soviet Music under the Stalin regime

Courses taught in 2020-2023

HUMS 3102: Western Music: 1000–1850; HUMS 3103: Western Music: 1850–2000 (Carleton University, College of Humanities)

MUSI 2104: Music in the Age of Passion (FASS, Carleton University)

MUHL 286: Critical Thinking About Music; MUSP 140, 141, 240, 241, 170, 171, 361: Musicianship and Keyboard Proficiency (McGill University, Music)

RUSS 440: Russia and Its Others and RUSS 382: Russian Opera (McGill University, Faculty of Arts)

LBCL 390 and LBCL 392: History of Music: Medieval to Contemporary (Concordia University, Liberal Arts)

MHIS 203: Music History to 1800 (Concordia University, Music)

MUSC 3800: Exotic Other in Western Music (University of Guelph, Music)

AWARDS, DISTINCTIONS, FELLOWSHIPS

2021             Choice Outstanding Academic Titles Award for Representing Russia’s Orient: From Ethnography to Art Song

2009              Schulich School of Music Scholarship

2008             The George Proctor Prize

2005–2007    Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship

2002–2005    Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture Doctoral Fellowship

1996             Diploma “With Distinction” from the Alma-Ata State Conservatory

 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

 “Music at the Service of the State: Stalin, Chinese Communist Party, and the first Uyghur-Soviet Composer Kuddus Kuzhamiarov (1918–1994).” Proceedings from the Second International Art Symposium at Kocaeli Universtiy (Turkey). Forthcoming.

Representing Russia’s Orient: From Ethnography to Art Song. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.

“Rimsky-Korsakov and His Orient,” 145–75. In Rimsky-Korsakov and His World, edited by Marina Frolova-Walker. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.

“Dialogue of Cultures: French Musical Orientalism in Russia, “Artistic Truth,” and Russian Musical Identity,” in Revue musicale OICRM 3/1 (2016): 71–92. 

“The Origin of Russian Primitivism? Alexander Grechaninov’s Arrangements of Asian Songs,” in Sacre Celebration: Revisiting, Reflecting, Revisioning (Toronto: York University), 67–80. Published on line. URL: http://sacre.info.yorku.ca/files/2013/10/Issiyeva.pdf

“‘Connected by the Ties of Blood’:  Musical Scales in the Quest for the Russian/Asian Identity,” in Revue du Centre Européen d’Etudes Slaves 2: Imaginaire collectif slave et construction identitaire. Publié en ligne le 03 juillet 2013. URL: http://etudesslaves.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php?id=527

“La Identidad Musical Uigur,” [Musical Identity of the Uighurs], in Eurásiatica: revista online sobre Asia Central. Published on line.

SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

 Out of Silence: Listening to the Muted Voices from Soviet Central Asia. Paper presented at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) annual Convention. Philadelphia, November 2023.

“Ethnic Minorities and their Musical Instruments: Cultural Hierarchy on Display.” Paper presented at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) annual Convention. Chicago, November 2022.

“The Forefathers of Slavs and Teutons”: Defining Uighurs in Russia at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Paper presented at the 10th World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICEESS). August 2021.

National Perspectives and the Fate of Ethnic Minorities on Russian-Chinese Borders: Representing Taranchis (Uighurs) at Ethnographic Concerts. Paper presented at the Canadian University Music Society (CUMS) annual conference. May 2021.

Voiceless Ethnic Minorities: Representing Taranchis at Ethnographic Concerts. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Musicological Society (AMS). November 2020.

“Somewhat Far-Fetched and Speculative”: Rimsky-Korsakov and His Orient. Paper presented at the Canadian University Music Society (CUMS) annual conference. Toronto, May 2017.

Représentations musicales russes de la Pologne : oppression politique et résistance artistique. Paper presented at colloquium « Protestation, propagande, oppression, résistance : Comment penser les liens entre musique et politique? » as a part of a conference organized by Association francophone pour le savoir. Montreal, May 2017.

 Dialogue of Cultures: Russian–French Conversation on Musical Orientalism. Paper presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Montreal, April 2015.

 Colonialisms and Musical Practices. Paper presentation for the panel at the Biennial International Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music. Toronto, June 2014.

 ‘Merging with the Higher Nation’: Russian Musical Ethnography at the Service of Empire. Paper presented at the Canadian University Music Society (CUMS) annual conference. St. Catherine (Ontario), May 2014.

From Oriental Other to Stigmatized Brother: Ethnographic Concerts at the Service of Empire. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Musicological Society (AMS). Pittsburgh, November 2013.

The Origins of Russian Primitivism? Alexander Grechaninov’s Arrangements of Asian Songs. Paper presented at the conference “Sacre Celebration: Revisiting, Reflecting, Revisioning” (York University). Toronto, April 2013.

“I Understood the Soul of These Songs”: Balakirev’s Songs with an Oriental Subject. Paper presented at the Canadian University Music Society (CUMS) annual conference. Waterloo, June 2012.

“Connected by the Ties of Blood”:  Musical Scales and Instruments in the Discourse of Russian/Asian Identity. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Musicological Society (AMS). San Francisco, November 2011.

Unveiling Tradition: The Oriental Other in Nineteenth-Century Russian Folk Collections. Paper presented at the CUMS annual conference. Regina, June 2010.

Capturing the Song of the Steppes or Representing the Intra-Imperial Asian “Other” in the Late-Nineteenth-Century Russian Sources. Paper presented at the Central Eurasian Studies Society annual conference. Toronto, October 2009.

Russian Fin-de-siècle Sources on Asian Music: Cabinet or Resuscitated Orient? Paper presented at the AMS New York State-St.-Lawrence Chapter meeting. Montreal, April 2009.

Nationalism, Decembrism, and Aliab’ev: Reconsidering Russian Orientalism in Art Song. Paper presented at the CUMS annual conference. This paper was awarded the George Proctor Prize. Vancouver, June 2008.

“You Were Born to be a Spark for Poet’s Inspiration: Images of the Oriental Other in 19th-Century Russian Art-Song. Paper presented at the AMS annual meeting. Quebec, November 2007.

Constructing a “New Nation” or Cultural Assimilation of the Minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (East Turkestan). Paper presented at the Central and Inner Asia Studies Conference at the University of Toronto. Toronto, May 2005.

“Grasping the Secret of the Poet’s Genius”: The Romantic and non-Romantic Voices in Britten’s Russian Vocal Cycle ‘The Poet’s Echo’ (1965). Paper presented at McGill Graduate Music Symposium. Montreal, March 2005.

Symbolism of the Circle in Uighur Muqam. Paper presented at the McGill Graduate Music Symposium, Montreal (March 2002). Montreal, March 2002.

RECENT LECTURES AND PUBLIC TALKS

 Devletin hizmetinde Müzik: Stalin, Çin Komünist Partisi ve İlk Uygur-Sovyet besteci
Kuddus Kuzhamiarov (1918-1994) [Music at the Service of the State: Stalin, Chinese Communist Party, and the first Uyghur-Soviet Composer Kuddus Kuzhamiarov (1918–1994)]. Keynote address at the Second International Art Symposium at Kocaeli University (Turkey). May 2023.

Out of Silence: Listening to the (Muted?) Voices of Russia’s Subjects. Cambridge University (UK), Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics. January 2023.

Александр Алябьев и декабристский Восток [Alexander Aliab’ev and Decembrist Orient]. Государственный Институт Искусствознания [The State Institute for Arts Studies] (Russia). December 2021.

The Caucasus in Russian Literature and Music. Oberlin College (Ohio). October 2021.

“Rimsky-Korsakov and His Opera The Golden Cockerel.” McGill University. February 2021.

“Assimilating all the intellectual treasures of Europe and Asia” or how the Caucasus Becomes the Self in Russian Music from Glinka to Rachmaninoff. University of Ottawa (On.), December 2020.

Russian Orientalism: Russo-Japanese War and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Opera The Golden Cockerel. Williams College (Mass.), November 2017.

Socialist Realism and Musical Nation-Building in Soviet Central Asia. Williams College (Mass.), November 2017.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le coq in Paris and Beyond. Université de Montréal, November 2017.

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov and his Orient: Russo-Japanese War, Golden Cockerel, and Russian Revolutions.  McGill University, March 2017.

La musique de la Pologne et la Russie : l’influence politique et artistique du grand empire. Université de troisième âge. Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, February 2017.

 French Musical Orientalism on Russian Soil: Criticism and Reality. McGill University, March 2016.

 Borodin’s Prince Igor: Traditional or Innovative Representation of the Orient? McGill University, February 2013.

 Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Russian Operatic Style. McGill University, February 2009.

 Women and their Representation in Nineteenth-Century Russian Music. McGill University, November 2006.

 Realism and Fairy Tales in Russian Opera; Orientalism and Nationalism in Russian Orchestral Music. Series of lectures given for the course Romantic Music, McGill University, September 2006.

Socialist Realism in Music of the pre- and post-WWII Soviet Union. McGill University, February 2006.