Joseph Kaminski

Joseph Kaminski was born in 1903 in Odesa

Kaminski was born in Odesa in 1903. His father, Abraham Isaac Kaminski, founded the first Jewish theater in Poland, and his mother was the actress Esther Rachel Kaminska. Soon after his birth the family moved to Warsaw, and his older sister was the actress Ida Kaminska.

He began playing the violin as a child and at 14 appeared as a soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic. In 1922 he went to study music with Friedrich Koch in Berlin. In 1924 he moved to Vienna to study with Hans Gál.

After his mother died in 1926, he returned to Warsaw and became music director of the Jewish theater run by his sister. He founded the Warsaw Quartet, which won the Piłsudski Prize in 1934, and became concertmaster of the Warsaw Radio Orchestra.

In 1937 Bronisław Huberman invited him to join the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra, and he moved to the Land of Israel. He served as its concertmaster until he retired in 1969. During World War II he conducted the orchestra for Allied soldiers, and at the ceremony declaring the state he conducted Hatikvah.

He composed works for theater and orchestra, and won the Engel Prize in 1949 and 1954. He died in October 1972 and was buried in Kiryat Shaul cemetery.