Musicקראל שלמון

Karel Salomon

Karel Salomon was a German-born Israeli composer, conductor and pianist who headed music at the Palestine Broadcasting Service and later Kol Israel.

1897 to 1974Founding the Broadcasting Service orchestraSymphonic Suite on Greek ThemesMusic based on Sephardic poetryHeading music at Kol Israel

Born: 13 November 1897, Heidelberg
Died: 15 January 1974, Beit Zayit
Occupation: composer, pianist, singer, organist

Karel Salomon was born in 1897 in Heidelberg

Karl Salomon was born in 1897 in Heidelberg, Germany, the son of a merchant. After the founding of the state he gave his name a Hebrew form, Karel Salmon, keeping its original sound.

He first studied with Philipp Wolfrum, music director of Heidelberg University, who sent him to Max Reger. In 1916 he went to Vienna, but Reger died soon after, and Salomon finished his studies with Richard Strauss in Berlin.

He worked as a conductor and composer in Germany and moved to the Land of Israel after the Nazis took power in 1933. In 1936 he became head of music at the new Palestine Broadcasting Service, where he founded its orchestra, today the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. From 1948 he ran the music department of Kol Israel and retired in 1962.

He wrote orchestral, vocal and chamber music, songs and piano works, often drawing on Sephardic poetry by Abraham ibn Ezra and Judah Halevi. He received the Engel Prize in 1950-51. He died in January 1974 at his home in Beit Zayit near Jerusalem, and his archive is held at the National Library.