Composer. Raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, he studied at the Talmudic Academy in Baltimore, Maryland, and at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, which he entered at age 9. He wrote a 200 page symphony at 13, entered the Julliard School in New York City, New York, and received his bachelor's and master's degrees in composition in 1964 and 1965 respectively. He won the American Academy in Rome, Italy prize for composition at 23, studied in Italy for two years, and was professor of composition at Peabody Conservatory from 1972 until his retirement in 2000, while performing in major venues, including Carnegie Hall. He composed music on both Jewish and non-Jewish themes: the opera "Deronda" is based on a George Eliot novel about a Zionist English Jew, while a second opera "Dreyfus" (1985) concerns the famous Dreyfus case in which a Jewish French officer was unjustly convicted of treason in 1894. His cantata "The Fire on the Mountains" memorializes the Holocaust, while "Night of the Murdered Poets" honors victims of Soviet Union dictator Josef Stalin's 1952 pogrom. Influenced later in life to return to his Jewish faith, he commenced Rabbinical studies and was ordained in 2003. At his death, he was Rabbi of Temple Beth El of Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, while continuing to play and compose religious music.
Composer. Raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, he studied at the Talmudic Academy in Baltimore, Maryland, and at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, which he entered at age 9. He wrote a 200 page symphony at 13, entered the Julliard School in New York City, New York, and received his bachelor's and master's degrees in composition in 1964 and 1965 respectively. He won the American Academy in Rome, Italy prize for composition at 23, studied in Italy for two years, and was professor of composition at Peabody Conservatory from 1972 until his retirement in 2000, while performing in major venues, including Carnegie Hall. He composed music on both Jewish and non-Jewish themes: the opera "Deronda" is based on a George Eliot novel about a Zionist English Jew, while a second opera "Dreyfus" (1985) concerns the famous Dreyfus case in which a Jewish French officer was unjustly convicted of treason in 1894. His cantata "The Fire on the Mountains" memorializes the Holocaust, while "Night of the Murdered Poets" honors victims of Soviet Union dictator Josef Stalin's 1952 pogrom. Influenced later in life to return to his Jewish faith, he commenced Rabbinical studies and was ordained in 2003. At his death, he was Rabbi of Temple Beth El of Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, while continuing to play and compose religious music.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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