Aaron Avshalomov

Born into a Mountain Jewish family in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Russia, Avshalomov was sent for medical studies to Zürich.[4] After the October Revolution in 1917, which made further studies in Europe impossible, his family sent him to the United States.

Less than a year later, he chose to move to China,[4] where he entered the world of Shanghai's academia and, together with other Jewish musicians, who had fled the Russian pogroms and revolution, trained a number of young Chinese musicians in classical music, who in turn became leading musicians in contemporary China.[5][6] Between 1918 and 1947, he worked to create a synthesis of Chinese musical elements and Western techniques of orchestral composition.[7] Among the first works of this type that he created was the opera Kuan Yin, which premiered in Peking in 1925.[8]

Avshalomov made his main livelihood at bookstores and libraries. He was the head librarian of the Shanghai Municipal Library for 15 years from 1928 to 1943.[2] He conducted the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra from 1943 to 1946.[9]

In 1947, he moved to the United States, where he already had spent three years in the mid-1920s.[4]

While living in San Francisco, he married a fellow Russian émigré in San Francisco.[4] In 1919, his son, Jacob Avshalomov was born, who became a composer and conductor, too.[11]

He died in New York City on April 16, 1965.[9]