We won't stop singing: Choirs in Land of Israel – Ynetnews
Shlomo Kaplan (1908-1974), one of the founders of choral music in Israel, was born in Russia and immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1927. He started off as a pioneer at the Ness Ziona “group”, which founded Moshav Beit Oved, and simultaneously began studying music at the Leviim school managed by Prof. David Shor. At the same time he also sang at an opera choir managed by Mordechai Golinkin.
In 1929 he moved to Petah Tikva, where he served as the conductor of the Great Beit Yaakov Synagogue’s choir. At the same time, he founded the Petah Tikva laborers’ choir, the Maccabi Avshalom choir, and the choruses of the Sharon, Herzliya, Kfar Saba, Raanana, Magdiel, Kfar Malal and the area’s kibbutzim. These choruses later united and became the Sharon Choir, which included more than 300 singers.
His work as an educator teaching the love of music began at the school for workers’ children in Kfar Malal. Soon after he started teaching at the Pika school in Petah Tikva, at the Shalva high school and at the Gordon and Tshernikhovski educational institutions in Tel Aviv.
1. Shlomo Kaplan (fourth from the left), paving a road near Beit Romano, Tel Aviv, 1928
2. The fruit picking and packaging workers of Dr. A. Mazia’s orchards in the 1929 season, Petah Tikva (Photo: Y. Alhones)
3. The council and choir of the Great Beit Yaakov Synagogue in Petah Tikva. Cantor A. Bakovsky and conductor S. Kaplan, 1928-1931 (Photo: N. Ben-Noam)
4. The school for workers’ children named after Yosef Aharonovich, Kfar Malal. Ninth grade, 1937
5. The school in Kfar Malal
6. The Tu B’Shvat choir in the 1930s
7. Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, ceremony marking the opening of the Hamaalot Theater. Conductor: Furdhaus Ben-Tzisi. Passover, 1933
8. From the left: Conductor Henry Klausner, Shlomo Kaplan, Swiss conductor Dr. Hans Reimann, composer Emanuel Amiran
9. First choirs’ convention camp at Givat Brenner, July 1952
10. Choirs’ convention at Givat Brenner, 1952
11. Shlomo conducts community singing at second national choirs’ convention at Givat Brenner, July 12, 1952
12. Singing the song “Dudu” at Nebi Yesha, May 12, 1952
13. Performance at President Ben-Zvi’s hut as part of the Zimriya events
14. At the President’s Residence, 1954. Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi with the Zimriya organizers. From the right: Yedidia Admon, Israel Shapira, Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi, Menachem Avidom, Yehuda Sharet, Shlomo Kaplan
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