Musicקלוד אברבנאל

Claude Abravanel

Claude Abravanel was a Swiss-born Israeli composer and pianist who founded the music library and the Archives of Israeli Music at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.

1924 to 2012Founding the Archives of Israeli MusicClassical vocal and chamber compositionsRubin Academy music library

Born: 16 July 1924, Montreux
Died: 14 December 2012, Jerusalem
Occupation: archivist, composer, pianist, librarian
Education: École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot, Conservatoire de Musique

Claude Abravanel was born in 1924 in Montreux

Claude Abravanel was born in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1924. His father was a pharmacist and his mother a singer. As a child he accompanied his mother on the piano in the lieder repertoire.

From 1944 to 1948 he studied music theory and piano with Dinu Lipatti at the Geneva Conservatory. From 1948 to 1951 he studied composition and piano in Paris at the Ecole Normale de Musique, with Arthur Honegger and Yvonne Lefébure.

He settled in Israel in 1951 and from 1952 taught theory, harmony and counterpoint at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem. In 1958 he founded the academy's music library and directed it until 1992. He became director of its musical instruments museum in 1965 and in 1988 founded the Archives of Israeli Music, which he led until 2004.

From 1993 he worked as an archivist at the music center of the National Library in Jerusalem. He composed orchestral, chamber and solo works and songs. He died in Jerusalem in 2012.