Peter Wertheimer (; 21 July 1947 – 5 January 2020) was a Romanian-Israeli jazz musician who specialised in playing the

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

and the

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

Biography

In Romania

Wertheimer was born in

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of Maramureș, broadly part of Transylvania ...

to violinist Andrei Wertheimer. He spent most of his childhood in

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

, where his father pioneered in jazz music within the area and was also an opera concertmaster. Wertheimer learned to play the classical violin at the age of five and began his studies at the local music school, which he was later expelled from when his family’s request to emigrate to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

was denied. He later moved to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

to continue pursuing his music studies and attend the

National University of Music Bucharest The National University of Music Bucharest (, UNMB) is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in 1931, it has functioned as a public university since ...

. Wertheimer often performed in nightclubs, cafes, culture centres and he was eventually hired by an orchestra, which he later toured abroad with in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and performed in numerous jazz festivals. Wertheimer also made collaborations with

Johnny Răducanu Johnny Răducanu (born Răducan Crețu; 1 December 1931 – 19 September 2011) was a Romanian jazz pianist of Romani ethnic background, whose family has a long musical tradition dating back to the 17th century. He was born in Brăila and start ...

Eugen Gondi Eugen Gondi (b. 1947, in Timișoara) is a Romanian-born jazz drummer. He graduated from the Arts Middle School in his hometown. He started his musical career by playing with the "Paul Weiner Free Jazz" trio. He has played with many famous Roman ...

Marius Popp Marius Popp (21 September 1935, in Sibiu – 8 November 2016) was a Romanian jazz pianist and composer. Popp, who graduated from the Institute of Architecture Ion Mincu in Bucharest, studied with Maricica Neagu (piano), Ana Severa Benţia (piano), ...

Radu Goldiș Radu Goldiş (born 1947 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian-born American jazz guitarist and composer. Goldiş is a graduate of the Bucharest Music Conservatory in the musicology department. He was Influenced by Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Wes Mon ...

and

Adrian Enescu Adrian-Floru Enescu (31 March 1948 – 19 August 2016) was a Romanians, Romanian composer of film soundtracks and contemporary music. As an individual musician, he also pioneered the local Electronic music, electronic scene during the 1970s and 19 ...

In Israel

In 1977, Wertheimer moved to Israel. He originally lived in a small village on the outskirts of

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

before moving to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. There, he began working in the Israeli music industry with assistance from Nancy Brandes. He would also occasionally provide background music for prominent artists such as

Ilanit Hanna Dresner-Tzakh (; born 17 September 1947), known by her stage name Ilanit (, ), is an Israeli singer. She was one of Israel's most popular singers from the late 1960s to the 1980s, both as a soloist and in the duo Ilan & Ilanit. Ilanit also ...

Izhar Cohen Izhar Cohen (, ; born March 13, 1951) is an Israeli singer who won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest. Biography Izhar Cohen was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised in Givatayim, to a family of singers of Yemenite-Jewish descent – Shlomo C ...

Arik Lavie Arik Lavie (; 9 March 1927 – 29 June 2004) was an Israeli pop-rock-folk singer and actor. Early life Lavie was born to a Jewish single mother named Edith Hauben who gave birth to him at the age of 19. His father was a medical student from R ...

, Ron Shoval,

Arik Einstein Arieh Lieb "Arik" Einstein ( ; (3 January 1939 – 26 November 2013) was an Israeli singer, songwriter, actor, comedian and screenwriter. He was a pioneer of Israeli rock music and was named "the voice of Israel." Through both high public and c ...

Gali Atari Gali Atari (; born 29 December 1953) is an Israeli singer and actress. Atari won the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 which was held in Jerusalem, as part of Milk and Honey. Early life Atari was born as Abigail Atari (Hebrew: אביגיל עטרי) ...

and

Margalit Tzan'ani Margalit "Margol" Tzan'ani (; born December 19, 1948) is an Israeli singer and television personality. Tzan'ani is famous for her repertoire of Israeli oriental music style with soul influences, as well as jazz, blues, rock, and pop. Biography ...

. Wertheimer soon began exploring different music styles and also performed adaptions of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

’s music. Wertheimer performed as a soloist for the

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is a major Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert ...

and he also worked with the

Gevatron The Gevatron (Hebrew: הגבעטרון) is an Israeli Kibbutz folk singers group. The band started off in the early days of the state of Israel and are active to this very day. They are considered a unique phenomenon in the Israeli folk songs scen ...

. He also made some light appearances in several Israeli films and he also made an appearance on the children’s show ''

Parpar Nechmad ''Parpar Nechmad'' (, ''Nice Butterfly'') is a long-running Israeli children's television programme, aimed mainly at pre-school children. The series premiered in January 1982 and ran until 2004. It was produced by Israeli Educational Television ...

''.

Personal life and death

Wertheimer was married to actress

Adi Lev Adi Lev (; 20 August 1953 – 12 March 2006) was an Israel actress and voice actress. Biography Born in Romania, Lev emigrated to Israel with her family at 16 years of age. She studied acting at Tel Aviv University and Beit Zvi. She also went to ...

from 1981 until Lev’s death from cancer in 2006. They had two children, Alon and Shirley. The latter of which is an actress. Wertheimer divided his career between Israel and his native Romania. Wertheimer died of cancer on 5 January 2020, at the age of 72.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wertheimer, Peter 1947 births 2020 deaths People from Satu Mare Musicians from Tel Aviv Romanian emigrants to Israel Naturalized citizens of Israel Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent 20th-century Romanian Jews 20th-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Romanian Jews 21st-century Israeli Jews Jewish Romanian musicians Jewish Israeli musicians Romanian jazz musicians Israeli jazz musicians Romanian flautists Israeli flautists Jazz flautists Romanian jazz saxophonists Israeli jazz saxophonists Romanian clarinetists Israeli jazz clarinetists Jazz clarinetists National University of Music Bucharest alumni 20th-century Romanian male musicians 21st-century Romanian male musicians 20th-century Israeli male musicians 21st-century Israeli male musicians Deaths from cancer in Israel 20th-century saxophonists 20th-century flautists 21st-century flautists