Jacob Avshalomov
| Jacob Avshalomov | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 28, 1919 Tsingtao, China |
| Died | April 25, 2013 (aged 94) Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Composer, conductor, musician |
| Spouse(s) | Doris |
Jacob Avshalomov (March 28, 1919 – April 25, 2013) was an American composer and conductor.
Jacob Avshalomov was born on March 28, 1919 in Tsingtao, China. His father was Aaron Avshalomov, the Siberian-born composer known for "oriental musical materials cast in western forms and media"; his mother was from San Francisco. Jacob received musical instruction from his father starting at a young age. At eight years old Avshalomov visited Portland from China with his parents and were guests of Jacques Gershkovitch for several months in 1927. Aaron Avshalomov had become friends with Gershkovitch in the Orient (Jacob was three years old when the two met). However, because they did not hold permanent visas the family returned to China.
Avshalomov graduated from British and American schools before age fifteen, then worked as a factory supervisor in Tientsin, Shanghai and Beijing over a span of four years. Avshalomov was also active in sports and won the diving championship of North China. In 1937, Avshalomov assisted his father in Shanghai with ballet production and working on scores. He then enlisted with a British volunteer corps following Japan's invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and eventually returned to the United States with his mother in December 1937. Avshalomov spent a year in Los Angeles studying with , followed by two years in Portland, Oregon to attend Reed College (1939–1941). During this time he studied with Gershkovitch and participated in the Portland Junior Symphony. He then spent two years at the Eastman School of Music to study composition and orchestration with Bernard Rogers. During World War II he lived in London, where he conducted a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion.
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