Abel Ehrlich

Abel Ehrlich was born in 1915 in Zelenogradsk

Ehrlich was born in 1915 in Cranz, East Prussia, to a family descended from rabbinic lines. He grew up in Königsberg, where he learned the violin and began composing at a young age.

In 1934, after the Nazis rose to power, he moved to Zagreb, where relatives lived, and studied violin and composition. In 1939 he left Europe and, after a short stay in Albania, immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. There he continued his studies at the music conservatory in Jerusalem.

His main work was composing and teaching, and he wrote more than 3000 works. He taught composition and music theory at the Israel Conservatory in Tel Aviv, the Rubin Academy of Music, Bar-Ilan University and Oranim. His students included Naomi Shemer.

Many of his works drew on biblical texts and Jewish folk melodies, and combined Western classical and Eastern Arab elements. He died in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2003. His son is the director Daniel Ehrlich.