Avshalomov, Jacob

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Jacob Avshalomov (1919- ) graduated from Reed College in 1943 and married Doris Felde, also class of '43. He played percussion and cello in the Portland Junior Symphony before earning advanced degrees from the Eastman School of Music. Avshalomov taught music at Columbia University from 1946 to 1954 before returning to Portland to become the Conductor of the Portland Junior Symphony, retiring after 40 years in 1994.

From the description of Jacob Avshalomov Papers, 1954-2000. 1954-2000. (CORVALLIS BENTON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY). WorldCat record id: 756872711

American composer Jacob Avshalomov began life in China, son of an American mother and Siberian-born father, Aaron Avshalomov, who was also a composer and conductor.

Jacob immigrated to the United States with his mother in 1937. While enrolled at Reed College, he joined the Portland Junior Symphony and apprenticed with its conductor, Jacques Gershkovitch. After service in World War II, he taught at Columbia University, and returned to Portland in 1954 to succeed Gershkovitch at the podium. For forty years, until his retirement in 2004, Jacob Avshalomov led the youth orchestra through concerts and recording sessions and on six international tours to Europe and Asia. His musical compositions include choral, chamber, and orchestral works, as well as vocal and keyboard pieces. His memoir, Avshalomov's Winding Way, pays tribute to his father Aaron's musicianship and formative role in nurturing his son's musical talent.

From the description of Jacob Avshalomov papers [manuscript] 1924-2004 (Oregon Historical Society Research Library). WorldCat record id: 658088719

The composer Jacob Avshalomov spent the majority of his career as the director of the Portland Youth Orchestra (A/K/A the Portland Youth Philharmonic) from 1954 to 1995.

Avshalomov was born in Tsingtao, China on March 28, 1919. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. In 1946, following his education and a stint in the U.S. Army, Avshalomov joined the music faculty at Columbia University. During his eight-year tenure, he founded and conducted the University chorus. In 1954, Avshalomov took over the Portland Junior Symphony, whose name was changed in 1978 to the Portland Youth Orchestra. He served as its conductor until 1995. Avshalomov received many honors during his career, including the Ernst Bloch award, a Guggenheim fellowship, the New York Music Critics Circle award, and multiple honorary degrees. He served on the National Council on Humanities from 1968 to 1978. Avshalomov's many compositions include Slow dance, Inscriptions at the city of the brass, How long o Lord, and Tom O'Bedlam.

From the description of Jacob Avshalomov scores, 1928-2001. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122533120

Jacob Avshalomov was born on March 28, 1919, in Tsingtao, China to a Russian composer father, Aaron Avshalomov, and an American mother. Jacobs first introduction to music was in 1937, in Shanghai, where he assisted his father in producing a Chinese ballet and in preparing score.

In December 1937, Jacob immigrated to San Francisco with his mother. (His father moved to America in 1947.) In 1938, Avshalomov studied composition with Ernst Toch in Los Angeles. Avshalomov attended Reed College in Portland Oregon in 1939-1941. There, he studied conducting with Jacques Gershkovitch and played percussion and cello in the Junior Symphony. He received a masters degree in 1943, from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he studied composition with Bernard Rogers. On August 31, 1943, Avshalomov married Dorris Felde, with whom he had two children, both became professional musicians: David, a composer-conductor and Daniel, a violist and a member of the American String Quartet.

In 1944, Avshalomov became a naturalized American citizen. While serving in the U.S. army, as an interpreter during World War II, he made his conducting debut with a performance of Bachs Passion According to St. John in 1944. Also while in the army, Avshalomov composed Slow Dance, his first work to receive a significant hearing. The piece was performed by the National Symphony under Richard Bales in Washington D.C. on August 13, 1945.

In 1946, he received an Alice M. Ditson Fellowship from Columbia University. Avshalomov spent that summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, where he studied composition with Aaron Copland. Then, in the fall of 1946, Avshalomov joined the music faculty at Columbia University. During his eight-year tenure, he founded and conducted the university chorus and occasionally conducted the orchestra which presented the American premieres of Michael Tippetts A Child of Our Time, Bruckners Mass in D and Handels The Triumph of Time or Truth . In 1957, Avshalomov completed, what he has identified as his most significant work, Inscriptions at the City of the Brass .

Avshalomov received many honors during his career including the Ernest Bloch award for the cantata, How Long O Lord in 1948, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1951. His major choral work, Tom OBedlam, which premiered on December 15, 1953, was awarded the New York Music Critics Circle Award. He received honorary doctorates in music and humane letters from the University of Portland (1966), Reed College (1974), and Linfield College in McMinville, Oregon (1976). In 1968, President Johnson appointed Avshalomov to the National Council on Humanities. He served until 1978

In 1954, Avshalomov left Columbia University and moved to Portland, Oregon where he took over the 30-year old Portland Junior Symphony (its name was changed in 1978 to the Portland Youth Orchestra) During his 41-year tenure he led students on six international tours. On March 28, 1999, Avshalomovs 80th birthday was celebrated in Portland with a special concert with an orchestra made up of his alumni from the Portland Junior Symphony and the Youth Philharmonic.

Sources: Ewen, David. American Composers Today. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1949.

Stabler, David: Avshalomov, Jacob, The New Grove Dictionary of Music Online. ed. L. Macy (Accessed 12 November 2003), http://www.grovemusic.com.

Slonimsky, Nicolas. Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicans--centennial ed., vol. 1, 151. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.

From the guide to the Jacob Avshalomov scores, 1928-2001, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)

Born in Tsingtao (Qingdao), China, in 1919, to an American mother and Russian father, Maestro Jacob Avshalomov fell naturally into the world of composing and conducting orchestral music. His father, Siberian-born Aaron Avshalomov, composed music in China for thirty years, and in his final three years there, conducted the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. When Jacob was a boy, the family spent three years in Portland, where his father conductied the B'nai B'rith choral and orchestra. His parents separated, and after working as a teenager for a manufacturer in China, Jacob immigrated to the United States with his mother in 1937. His father followed in 1947. Jacob married Doris Felde in 1943, and their sons David and Daniel continue the family musical tradition.

After studying composition with Ernst Tock in Los Angeles, Jacob Avshalomov enrolled at Reed College in Portland, and joined the Portland Junior Symphony as a musician and apprentice to conductor Jacques Gershkovitch, a family friend. After earning his B.A. and M.A. in music from the Eastman School, he was drafted into the US Army for service during World War II. A Ditson Fellowship allowed him to study at Columbia University after the war, and he stayed on to teach and conduct the Collegiate Chorale. He returned to Portland in 1954 to succeed Gershkovitch as conductor and musical director of the Portland Junior Symphony. Under Avshalomov's direction, the symphony changed its name to the Portland Youth Philharmonic in 1978. For forty years, Jacob Avshalomov led the youth orchestra through concerts and recording sessions and on six international tours to Europe and Asia. In 1999, the youth orchestra feted his 80th birthday with a special alumni concert.

Jacob Avshalomov’s compositions include choral, chamber, and orchestral works, as well as vocal and keyboard pieces. He also worked collaboratively with his father, and in later years he set his wife's poems to music. Both as a composer and conductor, Avshalomov received many national awards and distinctions, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the New York Music Critics Award, and appointment to the National Council on Humanities. Locally, he was named Portland’s First Citizen and received the Governor’s Arts Award. His memoir, Avshalomov’s Winding Way, pays tribute to his father Aaron’s musicianship and formative role in nurturing Jacob's musical talent.

From the guide to the Jacob Avshalomov papers., 1924-2004, (Oregon Historical Society)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. The thirteen clocks : based on the book by James Thurber for two storytellers & symphony orchestra / by Jacob Avshalomov. Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Library
referencedIn Portland Youth Philharmonic (Portland Junior Symphony Orchestra) records, 1924-1995 Oregon Historical Society Research Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Psalm XXIII / J. Avshalomoff. New York Public Library System, NYPL
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Jacob Avshalomov interview [manuscript], 2003. Oregon Historical Society Research Library
referencedIn Avshalomov, Jacob. Jacob Avshalomov papers [manuscript] 1924-2004 Oregon Historical Society Research Library
referencedIn Little Orchestra Society concert recordings collection [sound recording], 1947-1957 The New York Public Library. Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob. Jacob Avshalomov papers [manuscript] 1924-2004 Oregon Historical Society Research Library
referencedIn The Moldenhauer Archives at Harvard University: Manuscript music compositions, 1880-1985. Houghton Library
referencedIn Aaron Copland Collection, 1841-1991, (bulk 1911-1990) Library of Congress. Music Division
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Jacob Avshalomov scores, 1928-2001. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Atkins, Irene Kahn, 1922-. Major figures in American music [A-E] : [oral history]. Yale University Library
referencedIn Portland Youth Philharmonic. Portland Youth Philharmonic (Portland Junior Symphony Orchestra) records [manuscript] 1924-1995. Oregon Historical Society Research Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Symphony : the Oregon. III the rose / Jacob Avshalomov. Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Sinfonietta / by Jacob Avshalomov. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Aaron Avshalomov scores, 1922-1963 The New York Public Library. Music Division.
creatorOf Jacob Avshalomov interview, 2003 Oregon Historical Society Research Library
referencedIn The Moldenhauer Archives at Harvard University: Correspondence, literary manuscripts, sound recordings, and other material, 1873-2001. Houghton Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Phases of the great land / by Jacob Avshalomov. University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, Sibley Music Library
creatorOf Jacob Avshalomov scores, 1928-2001 The New York Public Library. Music Division.
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Up at timberline / Jacob Avshalomov. Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. And Ruth said / [music by Jacob Avshalomov ; words from] Ruth 1:16, 17. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Koussevitzky, Serge, 1874-1951. Serge Koussevitzky Archive, 1920-1976 (bulk: 1924-1951) Library of Congress. Music Division
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. City upon a hill / Jacob Avshalomov. New England Conservatory of Music, Harriet M. Spaulding Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. The taking of T'ung Kuan / by Jacob Avshalomov. University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, Sibley Music Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Song : for contralto / by J. Avshalomoff ; to a poem by Brian Hooker. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn The Leonard Burkat Papers, 1943-1981 (inclusive) Irving S. Gilmore Music Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Prophecy : Isiah XI-XII excerpts / Jacob Avshalomoff. Jewish Theological Seminary of America
referencedIn Jacob Avshalomov collection, [ca. 2000-ongoing]. Museum of Performance & Design
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Jacob Avshalomov Papers, 1954-2000. Reed College Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Aaron, 1894-1965. [Selections / Aaron Avshalomov]. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Nicolas Slonimsky Collection, 1873-1997, (bulk 1920-1990) Library of Congress. Music Division
creatorOf Jacob Avshalomov papers., 1924-2004 Oregon Historical Society Research Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Praises from the corners of the earth / Jacob Avshalomov ; [words by] John Donne. Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. The glistening city / Jacob Avshalomov. Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. [Songs. Selections / Jacob Avshalomov]. New York Public Library System, NYPL
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Shadows ; On the Tung Ting Lake ; Weariness / J. Avshalomoff. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
creatorOf Avshalomov, Jacob, 1919-. Reminiscences on Leopold Stokowski, Jul. 28, 1976 [sound recording]. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Music Collection corporateBody
associatedWith Ash, Moise. person
associatedWith Avshalomov, Aaron 1894-1965. person
associatedWith Avshalomov, Daniel. person
associatedWith Avshalomov, David, 1946- person
associatedWith Avshalomov, Doris. person
associatedWith Avshalomov, Jacob, family
associatedWith Avshalomov, Jacob 1919- person
associatedWith Bradstreet, Anne, 1612?-1672. person
associatedWith Burkat, Leonard, 1919-1992. person
associatedWith Copland, Aaron, 1900-1990 person
associatedWith De Varon, Lorna Cooke. person
associatedWith Donne, John, 1572-1631. person
associatedWith Freneau, Philip Morin, 1752-1832. person
associatedWith Hawkshaw, Susan person
associatedWith Hooker, Brian, 1880-1946 person
associatedWith Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 person
correspondedWith Koussevitzky, Serge, 1874-1951 person
associatedWith Leonard Burkat person
associatedWith Little Orchestra Society corporateBody
associatedWith Lowell, James Russell, 1819-1891. person
associatedWith Moldenhauer, Hans person
correspondedWith Moldenhauer, Hans, collector. person
associatedWith Park Avenue Synagogue (New York, N.Y.) corporateBody
associatedWith Portland Junior Symphony Orchestra. corporateBody
associatedWith Portland Youth Philharmonic person
associatedWith Portland Youth Philharmonic. corporateBody
associatedWith Reed College (Portland, Or.) corporateBody
correspondedWith Slonimsky, Nicolas, 1894-1995 person
associatedWith Thurber, James, 1894-1961 person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Oregon--Portland
United States
Oregon--Portland
Portland (Or.)
Oregon
United States
Portland (Or.)
Subject
Musicians
Musicians
Band music
Cantatas, Secular
Choruses, Sacred (Mixed voices, 4 parts) with organ
Choruses, Sacred (Mixed voices) with orchestra
Composers
Composers
Composers
Concerts
Concerts
Conductors (Music)
Conductors (Music)
Jewish Americans
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JPB 02-5
Monologues with music (Orchestra)
Music
Music
Music
Music
Music
Music history
Oral history
Orchestral music
Oregon
Performing arts
Psalms (Music)
Russian Americans
Russian History
Russians
Sacred songs (High voice) with organ
Sacred songs (Low voice) with piano
Sacred songs (Medium voice) with piano
Songs (Low voice) with piano
Songs with piano
Sound recordings
Suites (Orchestra)
Symphonies
Symphonies
Symphonies (Band)
Symphony orchestras
Symphony orchestras
Zionism
Occupation
Composers
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Person

Birth 1919-03-28

Death 2013-04-25

Americans

English

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