People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR, laureate of the USSR State Prize, ballet master Tamilla Shiraliyeva has passed away at the age of 79.

Axar.az reports citing APА, Farid Ibrahimov, Deputy Director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre said this.

According to him, Tamilla Shiraliyeva had been suffering from diabetes for a long time. Recently, she developed kidney problems and underwent surgery. She passed away this morning due to a brain hemorrhage.

Note that Tamilla Khudadat Shiraliyeva was born on December 8, 1946, in Baku. She graduated from the Baku Choreography School in 1964 and, from the same year, became a soloist at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre.

She performed leading roles such as Garaja Girl ("Garaja Girl" by Ashraf Abbasov), Gulyanaq ("Maiden Tower" by Afrasiyab Badalbeyli), Mehmanebanu ("Legend of Love" by Arif Melikov), Ayisha, Fietta ("Seven Beauties", "Along the Lightning Roads" by Gara Garayev), Odette-Odile ("Swan Lake" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky), Kitri, Paquita ("Paquita" by L. Minkus), Sheherazade ("One Thousand and One Nights" by Fikrat Amirov), and many others.

Since 1977, Tamilla Shiraliyeva had been engaged in teaching activities. She was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1970, People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1978, and received a personal pension from the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2002.