Abraham Kefeli (Hebrew אברהם כפלי - Avraham Kefeli; Crimean Karaim: Аврагъам Кефели - Avragham Kefeli) is distinguished in several fields, including Qaray (Crimean Karaite) cultural scholarship, Karaite theology, piano, voice and musical composition.
A composer of classical, jazz and folk music whose work has been performed in several countries, he also plays the piano at a professional level and is an accomplished singer. He has won several awards, including a 1992 prize for folk music in the Russian Jazz Performers competition and a 1997 First Prize in the competition of the Meta-Art festival in Kiev.
Many of Kefeli's compositions are about his Karaite cultural heritage, and he has also written numerous articles [1] and several volumes about this subject. His books include Catalogue of Tombstone Monuments in the Halich Karaite Cemetery (2000, Ukrainian Ministry of Culture) and the Russian translation of Fairy Tales of the Crimean Karaim (2002, State Publishing House for National Minorities of Ukraine).
Born in Simferopol, Ukraine, he has lived in Israel since the late 1990s. Since 2000, he has served as Hazzan (singer of the prayers) at the Karaite synagogue in Ashdod (Israel). Kefeli is also considered a Karaite Hakham (religious scholar).
His compositions are regularly played on US stations KKUP and KUSF.
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Kefeli attended the State Conservatory of Music in Rostov-na-Donu from 1992 to 2002, where he earned his MA with honors in 1997. There, he studied composition with Vladimir Krasnoskulov and jazz piano with Kim Nazaretov. From 1997 to 2002, he studied for his D.Mus. under Krasnoskulov. He has also studied with Israeli musicians, including Andre Hajdu at Bar-Ilan University from 1999 to 2001 and Edwin Seroussi at Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 2001 to 2002.
Kefeli was a composition instructor at the Troyezshina Art School in Kiev from 1997-99 and also taught composition, organ and piano at the Titora Institute of Art Development in Modi'in, Israel from 1999 to 2000.