In loving memory of Yakov Gubanov
- yakovgubanov
- Mar 22
- 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 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,…
Yakov was the most knowledgable, skilled, and passionate musician I've known, possessing an unsurpassed breadth and depth of musicality and humanity. Not just a composer and teacher, Yakov ranged from virtuosic pianist, to silent film improv accompanist, to world-renowned lecturer and theorist, to astronomy enthusiast, to beloved husband, father, friend, and colleague.
We worked together furiously for 3+ years, sharing weekly video lessons. Yakov introduced me to a wealth of music, from hidden gems of the Baroque to 20th century techniques like dodecaphonism, controlled aleatory, and cut-up technique. He helped me sharpen my harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, and analysis skills, while composing 8 pieces under his tutelage. It was so challenging, so fun, so rewarding.
I consider myself endlessly fortunate to…