Maral Yakshieva (born on February 25, 1968, Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan; now residing in Russia) is a bright and original Turkmen composer, pianist and improviser, with a solid understanding of various jazz and improvisational languages. Combination of Eastern and Western musical traditions is natural and very organic for her. Maral Yakshieva's works were performed with great success at various concert halls in Asia, US and Europe. She has an outstanding talent for improvisations too. As pianist-improviser, she had brilliant performances with many well-known musicians such as Anthony Braxton, Günter "Baby" Sommer, Markus Stockhausen and others. Maral Yakshieva studied composition and piano at the State Conservatory of Turkmenistan in Ashgabat (1988-95) and there graduated with a diploma of excellence in both subjects. She then got a scholarship from the government of Turkmenistan and studied composition and music psychology at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow (1997-98). She has also attended master classes in Austria, Czech Republic, and Luxembourg. Maral Yakshieva has taken part in many festivals in Russia and abroad, including Festivals of Japanese Music in Moscow (since 1999), the Moscow Autumn Festival (2001-08), Beijing Music Festival (2009), Luxembourg Festival (2009), International Piano Jazz Festival (September, November 2009), Fajr Music Festival (Tehran 2010) and etc. Her album Improvisations. Duo. 2008 with the legend American saxophonist Anthony Braxton (2