Leon Schidlowsky
Leon Schidlowsky, renowned Chilean-born Israeli composer of mostly orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, piano and graphic-multimedia works that have been performed throughout the world; he was also active as a painter. Prof. Schidlowsky had secondary studies at the Instituto Nacional de Chile in Santiago from 1940-47 and studied piano with Roberto Duncker at the Conservatorio Nacional de Chile in Santiago (1942-48) where he earned a diploma. He later studied composition with Adolfo Allende and Fre Focke, as well as harmony, philosophy and psychology at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago (1948-52). He finished his studies in Germany at the Musikhochschule Detmold (1952-54).
Among his many honors are various prizes in Chile (1957-67), the Guggenheim Fellowship (1968); First Prize in the competition of the Hecht Foundation (1977), for Rising Night after Night, and two residencies in Berlin from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (1980-81, 1992-93). He received First Prize in the 60th anniversary competition of the Israeli Philharmonic (1996, for Absalom) and the ACUM Prize (2000, for his entire oeuvre). His music has represented Israel at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers (1971, Babi Yar; 1978, Dadayamasong) and the Prix Italia (1976, Citizen 1230316). The Branlfelder Kantorei, the British Council, the Foundation of Israeli Composers, the Fundaci6 Carlos Riesco (Chile), the Inter-American Festival (USA), the Israeli Broadcasting Company, the Jerusalem Festival, and the Latin-American Festival (USA) have commissioned him. The National Council for Culture and Art (Israel), NDR, conductor Hermann Scherchen, bass clarinetist Harry Sparnaay, the Tel Aviv Foundation for Literature and Art, the organization Testimonium (III, IV and VI) and the Universidad Cat6lica de Santiago (Chile) have also commissioned works from him. He has participated in festivals, symposia and workshops in Argentina, Chile, the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Peru, Poland, Spain, the UK, the USA and Venezuela.
His graphic scores have been exhibited at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (1979), the Kunsthaus Hamburg (1980), the Galerei Schaller (1980), the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum in Ludwigshafen (1982) and the Staatliches Museum in Saarbrücken (1995). They were also the focus of concerts in Berlin, Hamburg, Ludwigshafen and Stuttgart in 1979-82, in Berlin in 1990-2000, in Saarbrücken in 1995 and in Würstburg in 1997. Exhibitions of his paintings were held at the Adlershof-Galerei in Berlin in 1993 and at the Chilean Embassy in Tel Aviv in 2002. Prof. Schidlowsky was also active in other positions. He was a member of the avant-garde ensemble Agrupacion Tonus de Santiago from 1955-59 and served as its director in 1959-61 and was also a member
of the British Council in Santiago in 1955-59. He served as a musical advisor to the Noiswander Grupo de Pantomimes in Santiago in 1956-61, director of the music library at the Instituto de Extension Musical in Santiago in 1961-62 and as secretary-general of the Asociación Nacional de Compositores in Santiago in 1961-63. He also served as director-general of the Instituto de Extenci Musical in 1962-66.
He taught music education at the Instituto Hebreo in Santiago in 1955-61 and served as a professor of composition at the Universidad de Chile in 1965-68. He has taught at the Rubin Academy of Music of Tel Aviv University since 1969, where he served as Professor of Composition and Music Theory from 1969-84 and has since been Adjunct Full Professor. In addition, he lectured on his music at Lund University in Sweden in 1988 and 1992 and at the Institut für Neue Musik in Berlin in 1992 and on Arnold Schoenberg at the Internationale Schönberg-Gesellschaft in Austria in 1991. He gave a master class in Vienna in 1995 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Rubin Academy of Music and lectured at the Cur so Intemacional de Composicion in Zaragoza in 1996-97.