Israel Amidan

Israel Amidan (Israel Ben-David Wittenstein) was born in Transylvania, Romania in 1921, and after a number of years, emigrated to Israel. His family was among the founders of Moshav Kfar Gidon. Amidan was a student of Zvi Haftel, the first violinist of the Israel Philharmonic, as well as Joseph Kaminski and Oedeon Partos. After completing his studies, he went to the USA for advanced studies at the Juilliard School in New York, where he also studied musicology. He played in the Ramat Gan Chamber Orchestra and was the concertmaster of the Israel Opera Orchestra. Amidan taught at the music academy in Tel Aviv, where among his students were violinst Yair Kless and violist Atar Arad. 

In 1952 Amidan left for Belgium to pursue his research in violin-teaching methods, on the recommendation of his teacher and the head of the music academy in Tel Aviv, Oedoen Partos. During the 1950s he took part in summer courses in orchestral playing at the summer academy in Salzburg under the direction of the Croatian conductor Lovro von Matacic. In addition, he taught at the Oranim School, where he Managed the violin department. His large library of scores was moved from the Oranim School to the music center of the arts center at Kibbutz Mizra. In 1965, his book Beginners’ Steps: 50 Hebrew Songs Arranged for Violin was published by Israel Music Institute. The Institute also published Amidan’s Guide to the Five First Positions of the Violin. Israel Amidan died in Haifa in 1968 at the age of 47.