Avi Benjamin

Avi Benjamin (; ; born 3 March 1959) is an Israeli composer and performer, musical director of the Israeli Gesher Theater since its foundation in 1991. Biography Avi Nedzvetsky (later Benjamin) was born in Tallinn, Estonia. His father was a professor of psychology at the University of Tartu and his mother was a physician. At the age of 4, Benjamin started to learn piano in Tartu, and when he was 15 his family moved to Tallinn, where he continued his studies at the Musical College with the pianist and teacher Renate Goznaya. Benjamin is married to the actress Evgenia Dodina who works at Habima Theater (she met Benjamin when both were working at Gesher). They have a daughter Anna (b. in 1995). Benjamin has also a son Gur (b. in 1985) from his first marriage. Music and theater career After graduation he was accepted to the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater. At the academy, Benjamin studied piano under Bruno Lukk (himself a student of Arthur Schnabel and Paul Hindemith) and Toivo Nahkur. Among his teachers were pianist Anna Klas and composer Jaan Rääts. In the mid-70s, in Tallinn, Benjamin became familiar with the contemporary Western music, mostly prohibited in the USSR at that ti