Marc Lavry

Marc Lavry was born in 1903 in Riga

Lavry was born Mark Levin in Riga on December 22, 1903. He studied piano at the Riga Conservatory as a child and began composing there.

He moved to Germany, where he studied architecture and continued his music studies in Leipzig. He changed his name because another composer and conductor already used the name Mark Levin.

In 1929 he became conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, which the Nazi regime disbanded in 1933. He returned to Riga and worked at the Riga Opera. In 1935 he and his wife came to the Land of Israel.

He was resident composer of the Ohel Theater and conductor of the Palestine Folk Opera, where his opera "Dan the Guard" premiered in 1945. He took part in the Mediterranean style that joined Middle Eastern elements with European classical music. From 1950 to 1958 he was music director of Kol Zion Lagola.

At the invitation of Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, he moved to Haifa to conduct the Haifa Symphony Orchestra. He died in Haifa on March 24, 1967.