Marc Lavry
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Marc Lavry (Hebrew: מרק לברי) (December 22, 1903, Riga – March 24, 1967, Haifa) was an Israeli composer and conductor.
He began his musical studies in Riga and continued at Leipzig conservatory. He also studied with Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer and music teacher. In 1926 Lavry moved to Berlin and worked for the theater. Since 1929 till 1932 he served as a conductor of the Berlin Symphonic Orchestra. The rise of Nazism caused him to return to Latvia in 1933, where he worked in Riga Opera. In 1934 he moved into Stockholm, Sweden and in 1935 came into Israel (Palestine at that time).
In 1936, one year after his arrival he composed the symphonic poem Valley (Hebrew: עמק, Emeq) – one of the most popular his writing. It represented an Israeli music in the first world tour of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Lavry works, including opera, oratorio, and symphonic poems, are influenced by oriental folk music and Jewish cantillation. Together with the choreographer Gertrud Kraus, Lavry developed the art of dance and Israel ballet. The oratory "Song of Songs" (Hebrew: שיר השירים, shir ha-shirim) has been performed many times and Lavry's choral music and arias have become part of the repertoire of choirs and singers in Israel and abroad. Lavry was not only prolific composer in all spheres of vocal and instrumental music but also a gifted conductor, who appeared with all the orchestras in the country.
In 1962 he received an invitation from Abba Hushi, the mayor of Haifa who encouraged the famous artists to move into Haifa and allocated free apartments for them. Lavry moved to Haifa and served as Haifa Symphonic Orchestra conductor.
He died in Haifa, 24 March 1967.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Freedman Catalog – list of works (probably, partial)
- The Jewish Choral Music Database – partial list of choral works
- Israel Music Institute – short biography
