Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir

Who was Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir?

Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir were Israeli duo pianists and teachers.

Bracha Eden was born on 15 July 1928, in Jerusalem. Alexander Tamir was born as Alexander Wolkovsky on 2 April 1931, in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1942, as an eleven-year old boy, he composed a Yiddish song called "Shtilar, shtilar", for a music competition in the Jewish ghetto. The song was set as a lullaby in order to confuse the Nazi occupiers. Many of the intended singers were killed before they could compete. The story of this episode and Tamir's recent return to his birthplace has been told in the Israeli film Ponar. He changed his name to Tamir after settling in Jerusalem after World War II. Some of the duo's earlier recordings, originally issued under names "Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir" now appear under the names "Bracha Eden and Alexander Wolkovski".

They met while studying at the Rubin Academy with Alexander Schroeder, a pupil of Artur Schnabel. Schroeder encouraged them to play as a duo and they formed their piano duo team in 1952. They continued their studies with Vronsky & Babin in the United States. Their duo debut was in 1954 in Israel. They won the 1957 Vercelli Competition and toured regularly in many countries, appearing both in recital and as concerto performers with the great orchestras of the world. They later became senior professors at the Rubin Academy, and Tamir was at one time dean of the academy.