When Zlata was still a young child, the family moved to Chisināu where she went to the Romanian primary school for girls and studied violin from her father. Zlata (born Zlata Beyrihman) studied physics and mathematics at the University ofChisinau and then entered the Musicology Department ofthe Chisinau Conservatory, where she graduated in 1952. She studied composition with Leonid Gurov (1910-1993), and violin with I.L. Daylis. From 1952 to 1962 she taught at a music school in Chisinau. In 1957 she continued her studies in the Conservatory's composition class, and after graduating in 1962 became a teacher there and continued to work at the Conservatory until the end of her life. In 1986 she became an Associate Professor, and in 1993 a full Professor of composition. Tkach was honored as the first woman to become a professional composer in Moldova. She was the Honored Artist of the Moldvan SSR (1974), winner of State Prize of Moldova (1982), and Chevalier of the Order of Work Merit. Zlata Tkach composed about 800 works, including sonatas, string quartets, suites, vocal music, choral and instrumental works, cantatas, opera, ballet, instru- mental miniatures, children's songs, and music for drama, cinema and theater. Her successful children's opera "Goat with Three Kids" (Capra cu trei iezi; written 1966) was revised several times and finally reintroduced as "The Impostor Wolf" in 1983.