Menachem Avidom

Menachem Avidom was born in 1908 in Ivano-Frankivsk

Avidom was born Mendel Mahler-Kalkstein on January 6, 1908, in Stanislaviv, then part of Austria-Hungary. His mother was a cousin of Gustav Mahler. He went to a Jewish school in Vienna during World War I and later to a gymnasium in Stanislaviv, and as a youth he learned violin and piano.

He moved to the Land of Israel in 1925 and studied at the American University of Beirut from 1926 to 1928. From 1928 to 1931 he studied composition and counterpoint in Paris with Henri Rabaud. He later took the surname Avidom, formed from the names of his daughters Daniella and Miriam.

He taught music in Egypt from 1931 to 1934, then taught music theory in Tel Aviv from 1935 to 1946. His style moved from atonal works to a Mediterranean style, and later to twelve-tone writing. He wrote symphonies, chamber music and operas, including Alexandra, first staged by the Israeli Opera in 1959.

From 1945 to 1952 he was general secretary of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He led ACUM from 1955 until he retired in 1980, and chaired the composers' league from 1958 to 1971. He died in Tel Aviv on August 5, 1995, and his archive is kept at the National Library.