Benjamin Rawitz-Castel (April 24, 1946 – August 29, 2006), was an Israeli classical pianist and piano teacher.[1]

Biography

Benjamin Ravitz was born and raised in Haifa, Israel, a graduate of Donia Weizman Conservatory in Haifa. First appeared as a soloist with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15, conducted by Sergio Comisione, and at the age of 17 with the Kol Israel Orchestra in Jerusalem. During his military service in the IDF orchestra, he performed as a soloist pianist with the orchestra at the Culture Hall in Tel Aviv, conducted by Yitzhak Graziani.

Graduated from the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv under the great teacher Ilona Vince-Kraus, the Conservatory in Geneva, and the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Brussels, where he served as a faculty member for over thirty years.

Music career

He based his solo and chamber music career in Brussels.

His career as a pianist and chamber music player with an extensive and varied repertoire spanned many countries around the world: in America, Africa, the Far East and Europe, where he also participated in festivals such as the Flanders Festival in Belgium, as well as in festivals in Italy, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Wales, Norway and France, and won critical acclaim for his performances and records, as well as international awards such as the Albanis Award in Barcelona at the Maria Canals Competition, the Mozart Award from the pianist Géza Anda, as well as awards for chamber music.

Among others, he played with clarinetist Donald L. Oehler and violists Jonathan Bagg and Sergiu Schwartz.[2][3]

He was one of the teaching staff in the annual courses in Switzerland, England, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was an honorary member of the 20th century competition in Orléans (France) and was invited to judge piano competitions in Italy. Many of his recordings are found in "Kol Israel", in the collection of recordings of "the Voice of Music".

Awards and recognition

  • Mozart-Prize, Zurich
  • Premio Albéniz, Barcelona
  • European Broadcasting Prize

Death

On August 29, 2006, Rawitz was murdered in the course of a robbery in the building where he lived in Brussels.[4]
One of the murderers was 15-year-old Junior Kabunda, a Belgian of Congolese origin. On 20 September 2009, he murdered his 1.5 year old daughter and the 79-year-old grandmother of his girlfriend. He also tried to murder his girlfriend.[5][6] On December 20, 2010 Kabunda was sentenced to life imprisonment.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2006-09-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ "Elon University Cultural Calendar: Fall 2005". Archived from the original on 2006-05-25. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  3. ↑ "Sergiu Schwartz - biography". serenatamusic.com. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "Brusselnieuws". brusselnieuws.be. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  5. ↑ kscherpenberg. "Junior Kabunda is de meest ongelukkige mens ter wereld". Gazet van Antwerpen. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  6. ↑ "18-year-old Muslim murders daughter and grandmother in Brussels - Counter Jihad". Archived from the original on 2010-01-04. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
  7. ↑ "Deredactie.be: Junior Kabunda moet levenslang de cel in". Archived from the original on 2010-12-23. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
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