Benedict Silberman, originally ''Boruch Hirsch-Benedigton Silberman'' (December 5, 1901 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

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– December 11, 1971 in

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), was a Dutch composer and conductor of Austrian Jewish descent. Silberman was the son of an Austrian violinist working in Helsinki who settled in

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. Silberman studied piano with and composition with Sem Dresden at the

Amsterdam Conservatory The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is a Dutch conservatoire of music located in Amsterdam. This school is the music division of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam ...

. He wrote a piano concerto (1924) at the end of his studies. A year later he composed a violin concerto. He left for

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where he played as a violinist and arranged light classical musical, preferentially

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

s. In 1944 he composed his own operetta ''Het Rozeneiland'' (The Island of Roses). He had contact with

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is '' The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life and career L ...

Robert Stolz Robert Elisabeth Stolz (25 August 188027 June 1975) was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.Stanley Sadie Ed. (2002) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Oxford University Press Biography ...

and

Emmerich Kálmán Emmerich Kálmán ( ; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Operetta#Austria–Hungary, Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most p ...

and toured Europe with the dance orchestras of Paul Godwin, Marek Weber and Dajos Bela. In 1936 he returned to the Netherlands and became pianist in the

AVRO Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

radio orchestra of Kovacs Lajos. In 1938 he became conductor of the VARA radio orchestra. In 1948 he was asked to create a radio orchestra specialized in light classical music; he led this from 1949 till 1967. In 1965, he won the Golden Harp for his contributions to Dutch music.Conamus jaarverslag 2003
In 1965

Shlomo Carlebach Shlomo Carlebach (; January 14, 1925 – October 20, 1994), known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, was an American rabbi and musician nicknamed "the Singing Rabbi". Although his roots lay in traditional Orthodox yeshivot, he branched out to c ...

published the album ''In the Palace of the King'', Silberman arranged and conducted the chorus and symphony orchestra. Benedict Silberman composed ''The Battle of Waterloo'', chamber music which makes you relive the battle of Waterloo (Napoleon). Silberman was also the conductor of this music, the sound engineer was Ruud van Lieshout, the orchestra was the Promenade Orchestra, the producer was Gerrit den Braber and the recording supervisor was Joop Stokkermans. The Battle of Waterloo is a fantasy by B. Silberman made after old motives.

References

* Robijns, Jozef; Zijlstra, Miep. ''Algemene muziek enciclopedie'', De Haan, 1979–1984 * Ruppli, Michel. ''The Decca Labels. A Discography'', Volume 6, Greenwood Press, 1996. 1901 births 1971 deaths 20th-century composers Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni Dutch classical composers Dutch classical pianists Male conductors (music) Dutch Jews Dutch people of Austrian descent Jewish classical composers Musicians from Amsterdam 20th-century Dutch conductors (music) 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century Dutch male musicians {{Conductor-stub