Dilbar Khakimova was born in Moscow into the family of Professor Sophia Khakimova, MD, PhD, and academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, and Hikmat Yuldashev, an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR and architect. Music was deeply cherished and admired in their household. Upon returning to Dushanbe, her mother enrolled her in the Tchaikovsky Music School. From that moment onward, her life became inseparably intertwined with music.
Starting in the 4th grade, she continued her studies in Moscow at the Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Tamara Manuilskaya. She successfully completed her final years at the Central Music School in the class of Anaida Sumbatyan—a distinguished pedagogue who trained a generation of exceptional pianists, including V. Ashkenazy and V. Krainev. Dilbar then continued her education at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory, graduating from the class of pianist and pedagogue Samvel Alumyan—a musician who once shared first prize with Radu Lupu at a competition in Bucharest and performed in an ensemble with Leonid Kogan.
In 1983, after successfully completing her postgraduate assistant-internship under S. S. Alumyan, she returned to Tajikistan. There, she worked as a private piano instructor at the Tajik State Institute of Arts, répétiteur at the Opera and Ballet Theatre, teacher at a private music school, and methodologist at the Ministry of Culture of Tajikistan. Later, in Iran, she taught at state schools, Azad University, the Art Institute, and the University of Tehran, where she also served as a member of the Academic Council. During this period, she also held the position of Professor of Piano at the newly established Tajik National Conservatory.
She has performed extensively as a soloist and with orchestras in Moscow (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall—Grand and Small Halls, Moscow State Conservatory’s White Hall, House of Composers, Column Hall of the House of Unions), Gorky, Tashkent, Alma-Ata, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Tehran, Shiraz, at the international “Mozart in Prague” Festival, at an international festival in Mikkeli, Finland, and at the international “In Homage to Mozart” Festival in Dushanbe. She has also collaborated with performers such as Austrian violinist and conductor B. Hodem-Messac, S. Kashkarova (a student of D. Oistrakh), O. Muvahid (a student of Rampal), and G. Inoyatova (a student of T. Nikolaeva). Additionally, she studied at the Bach Academy in Stuttgart, Germany.
Her repertoire includes works by European and Russian composers as well as pieces by Tajik and Iranian composers. Bach’s works—particularly the “Goldberg Variations”—have always remained central to her deep interpretive and performance practice. Among the concertos she has performed with orchestras are:
- W. A. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 26
- W. A. Mozart: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
- F. Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2
- F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2
- S. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 (1st movement)
- T. Sattorov: Concerto for Piano, Cello, and Strings (with the Moscow Academic Symphony Orchestra)
- T. Sattorov: Passacaglia and Toccata for Piano and Orchestra
- Atoev: Concerto
Her students—from Russia, France, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, the USA, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey—have won awards at numerous international competitions. They now work as performing artists and teachers at universities, colleges, and schools in Russia, China, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Iran, and Tajikistan.
Together with her husband, Mirbobo Mirrakhimov—a writer and scholar specializing in philosophy, history, literature, and linguistics—she translated into Persian and published in Iran several educational works, including “Anna Magdalena Bach’s Notebook” (edited by E. M. Timakin, N. V. Shirinskaya, I. S. Bach, and L. Roizman), as well as piano method books and notes by A. D. Artobolevskaya. These teaching materials have been reprinted multiple times in Iran. Her book “First Encounter with Music” has been reissued in Persian translation ten times to date, with select editions accompanied by CDs and cassettes to support amateur pianists.
She has also recorded several CDs, including:
- “Piano Recital”: featuring works by Komitas, A. Hossein, Hakim Robit, and J. S. Bach
- A CD dedicated to the works of F. Majd
- The CD “Orzu,” recorded in collaboration with baritone M. Fasehi
- And other recordings
She is the author of numerous articles published in international, Moscow-based, and Tajik press, as well as methodological publications, including “An Analysis of C. Czerny’s Op. 599 Etudes” and “On Certain Principles of Teaching Piano Playing,” developed for Tajikistan’s music schools. She also has a publication in the online journal Caspi Art.
In Tajikistan, she has been honored with the “Order of Honor” (2nd Class), the titles “Distinguished Educator of Education and Science” and “Best Teacher of the Year,” along with other official recognitions. Her name has been included in the Encyclopedia of Women Musicians of Iran.
In 2023, she won two Grand Prix awards at international online competitions in Switzerland and Germany, organized jointly with Caspi Art. She expressed: “I am deeply honored to know the Caspi Art organization and sincerely wish my esteemed colleagues continued success in their valuable and vibrant activities.”
That same year, in Tajikistan, the Tajik-language edition of First Encounter with Music by A. D. Artobolevskaya—translated and prepared for publication by Dilbar Khakimova together with M. Mirrakhimov—was released. The striking illustrations for this edition were created by young students from an art school in Dushanbe.
Recently, Dilbar completed new piano compositions—some of which she has already performed in concert—as well as transcriptions and caprices based on themes by Bach–Gounod, A. Hossein, Z. Shahidi, M. Ashrafi, and J. Maroufi. She says with conviction: “There is inexhaustible beauty hidden in ancient, European, and Eastern music. These old melodies—sincere, profoundly deep, and simple—are an endless source of life.”
She maintains a positive, forward-looking perspective in both life and profession and remains devoted to the timeless traditions passed down to her by her remarkable teachers of life and music. “In her view, good music is a great gift—and today, regardless of how deeply we understand its value, it is especially essential for all of us, because it brings us back to ourselves, to our essence.” She always invests tremendous effort in her students, seeing it not merely as work but as a sacred duty.