In loving memory of Yakov Gubanov
- yakovgubanov
- Mar 22, 2025
- 1 min read
With our hearts full of sorrow we announce that Yakov passed away at midnight on Friday, 21 March, in Vienna. He was diagnosed with a devastating cancer which took his life in three months.
Yakov lived and experienced everything through the lens of an Artist.
Let us all remember him in all of his beauty and depth of soul, and let us celebrate him through his own precious music and words.
Enrica and Tanya,
loving wife and daughter.
Yakov had a strong influence on me, I knew him soon after he started teaching at Berklee. As a teacher he was able to be critical and push me towards improvement while also encouraging, and had infinite patience for the students. He taught me to slow down and master the basics. My favorite memories are the performances he gave at Harvard, not only a great composer, teacher, but also piano improviser. Today I was thinking of him and wanted to listen to a few of his pieces and came across this sad news. I cannot find the words, just that I feel very lucky to have known him, had long conversations with him in front of the school, and attended…
Yakov taught me composition when he was living in Cambridge and I was in high school. He taught me so much more than how to create - he also showed me how to see experience music everywhere and delight in the world as he walked me back to the train and rewarded me with chocolate. We shared sweets and cigarettes together into my late twenties, and I am so sad to learn of his death. I want to extend my condolences to you, Enric and Tanya. I cherish all that Yakov taught me about life and it was such a privilege and honor to have walked this earth with him.
Дорогие Энрика и Таня!
Только что открыл Яшин сайт, чтобы показать коллегам по работе и узнал,
что Яши нет. Яша - большая часть моей жизни. Слов нет.
Светлая память. Царствие ему небесное.
Володя
I'm so sorry for your loss, Enrica and Tanya! Today I was sitting on the bench in Schönbrunn dedicated to your husband and father and was touched by the writing. I understood immediatly that there was deep loving. I wanted to leave a message of condolence and sending you strength! Rest in peace, Mister Gubanov!
Maria
I’m very fortunate to have had a little time getting to know you Yakov.
I met you at the same time I first met Enrica, in Acquapendente, Italy, where we shared a meal together and discovered your ‘Russian’ love of meat and potatoes along with my ‘Irish’ husband’s, James! I experienced you as quiet and gentle and often with a sense of mischief about you. It was as if your inner world was rich with observations, parallels, synchronicities and curiosities that tickled you …. enjoying puns on words and an interest about the dreams had the night before, often with the suggestion of the prescient knowledge that might be before us … if only we tuned in….
Dear Yakov,…