Ernest Bloch

Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) established his reputation in music on Hebraic themes in works such as the cello concerto Schelomo (1916). That year, Bloch first traveled to the United States, became a U.S. citizen, and ultimately composed his prize-winning cantata America: An Epic Rhapsody (1926). Bloch's return to Switzerland was interrupted by the rise of Nazism, and he permanently settled in the U.S. in 1938. He was an important teacher and composed numerous operas, symphonies, concertos, and chamber music, though his works exploring Hebrew concepts, such as Baal Shem (1923) and Suite hébraïque (1951), remain the most popular.