Lazare Saminsky

Lazare Saminsky (1882–1959) was a Russian-American composer, conductor, renowned performer of Jewish music and one of the founders of Society for Jewish Folk Music. He attended Odessa Conservatoire in 1903–05 and relocated to Moscow to continue his studies in music, mathematics and philosophy. After getting expelled for participation in student protests in 1905, Saminsky went to Saint Petersburg to become a student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Anatoly Liadov, and Nikolai Tcherepnin. From 1911 to 1918, Lazar Saminsky lived in Tiflis (Tbilisi) where he became interested in Georgian and Armenian traditional music. He was head of the Tiflis Conservatoire in 1917–18. Saminsky left the Soviet Union in 1919 and traveled around France and England, performing Russian and Jewish music. He also led a ballet season at the Duke Of York's Theatre in London. In December 1920, Saminsky immigrated to the USA where he had been active as a composer, conductor, and organizer of musical events. Lazar became a board member of the International Composers Guild in 1922. He started working as an artistic director of the Temple Emanu-El Synagogue in New York in 1924, composing original music for Sabbaths and Holiday services and commissioning work from other Jewish composers, including Joseph Achron and Isadore Freed. Full name: Lazar Semyonovich Saminsky, Лазарь Семенович Саминский