Avi Benjamin

Avi Benjamin (Hebrew: אבי בנימין‎‎; Russian: Ави Беньямин; born March 3, 1959) is an Estonian, Russian, and Israeli composer and performer, musical director of the Israeli Gesher Theater since its foundation in 1991.

Avi Benjamin was born as Avi Nedzvetsky in Tallinn (USSR, now Estonia). His father was a professor of psychology at the University of Tartu and his mother was a physician. At age of 4, Benjamin started to learn piano in Tartu, and when he was 15 his family moved to Tallinn, where he continued his studies at the Musical College with the pianist and teacher Renate Goznaya. After graduation from the college he was accepted to the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater. At the academy, Benjamin was studying piano under professor Bruno Lukk (himself a student of Arthur Schnabel and Paul Hindemith) and Toivo Nahkur. Among his teachers were also pianist Anna Klas and composer Jaan Rääts.

In mid-70s, in Tallinn, Benjamin became familiar with the contemporary Western music, mostly prohibited in the USSR at that time. Rock 'n' Roll, hard rock, blues, and jazz soon became a part of his life together with the classical music. During his studies at the academy, Benjamin was performing with the Estonian Philharmonic Orchestra, and following his graduation he became a musical director of the Estonian State Russian Drama Theater in Tallinn.

In mid 80-s Benjamin moved to Moscow to work as a theater composer. In Moscow, Benjamin composed music mostly for the TYUZ (Young Generation Theater) and the Hermitage Theater. His musical “Goodbye America!” based on the famous children poem “Mister Twister” by Samuil Marshak and staged in TYUZ by director Henrietta Yanovskaya, was named the “Best Show in Moscow” in the 1988-1989 season. He also composed music to the “Journey of Benjamin the Third to the Holy Land” (after the classic Yiddish epic by Mendele Mocher Sforim) for Hermitage Theater. The play translated from Yiddish by the poet Velvl Chernin was directed by Nikolay Sheiko casting Eugene Gerchakov as a main character – the “Jewish Don Quixote” Benjamin the Third. Very soon the performance built up a cult status with the Moscow Jewish community as its premiere coincided with the start of the new wave of Jewish exodus from the Soviet Union. During his time in Moscow Benjamin also became interested in Jewish music and formed a Klezmer band.

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