Opera singer Shakhimardan Abilov received the honorary title "People's Artist of Kazakhstan".

Outstanding figures of Kazakhstan received awards on the Republic Day. Starting this year, the titles  "People's Writer of Kazakhstan" and "People's Artist of Kazakhstan" were added to the honorary orders "Parasat" and "Yel Birligi".

Opera singer, teacher, Honored Artist of the Republic of Kazakhstan Shakhimardan Abilov was born in the village of Arbigen, Shcherbakty District, Pavlodar Region. He graduated from Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory.

The singer's repertoire includes more than five hundred works - arias, romances and songs by Kazakh and foreign composers. Shakhimardan Abilov gave solo concerts in Moscow, London, Paris and Kazakhstan dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the great poet Abai. He played in the operas by A. Zhubanov and L. Hamidi, P.I. Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin", Mozart's "The Bell" and "The Marriage of Figaro", G. Zhubanova’s "Enlik Kebek". He toured in England, Turkey, France, Iran, Poland, Mongolia, Korea and CIS countries.

It should be noted that last year Shakhimardan Abilov presented the first mono-opera in the history of Kazakhstan dedicated to Abai Kunanbayev and Mukhtar Auezov, and this year he presented the film-mono-opera "Khakim Abai".