Selected text
We got married in 1963. My wife is a Bulgarian. We married before the registrar and we didn’t have a religious wedding. Our daughter Simona was a gift from Heaven to us because both Sabina and I weren’t very young. Simona was born on 12th August 1974. From the moment she learned to speak, she started saying everything that came to her mind. She also had an acute sense of logic. I remember a lot of funny stories about her. For example, the first time I took her to the Musical Theater. That was our theater: her mother worked there as an actress, and I as a conductor and composer. I took her to see the children’s comic opera ‘King Midas has Donkey’s Ears’ by Parashkev Hadjiev [Parashkev Hadjiev (1912–1992): a famous Bulgarian composer, pedagogue, public figure]. Sabina played the part of Pam: a mischievous man with horns. At the end of the first act Sabina put on a mantle and disappeared. Then there was an interval and after the interval a second act. Suddenly Sabina’s head appeared from the curtains of the fore-stage and she shouted, ‘Children, do you recognize me?’ And they all said, ‘Yes!’ ‘I’m Pam,’ she said. But suddenly a voice was heard from our box just above the orchestra, ‘No, this is mum!’ The whole audience burst into laughter, and the orchestra stopped playing. It was very funny!
I visited Israel for the first time ten years after my parents and my sister’s family had emigrated. I saw how the musicians lived there, in misery. I didn’t like the atmosphere in Israel. I also saw that my father, who was a very honest man, could also not stand that atmosphere. I’ve been to Israel many times since then. I also kept in touch with friends, colleagues and relatives. From my friends and colleagues I mostly kept in touch with Nissim Alshveh, a great musician, and Albert Cohen. From the relatives I kept in touch with my cousin Albert Levi-Pepo, the great poet and painter of Israel. He was born in 1923 and died in 2003 in Haifa. I kept in touch with him all these years.
I visited Israel for the first time ten years after my parents and my sister’s family had emigrated. I saw how the musicians lived there, in misery. I didn’t like the atmosphere in Israel. I also saw that my father, who was a very honest man, could also not stand that atmosphere. I’ve been to Israel many times since then. I also kept in touch with friends, colleagues and relatives. From my friends and colleagues I mostly kept in touch with Nissim Alshveh, a great musician, and Albert Cohen. From the relatives I kept in touch with my cousin Albert Levi-Pepo, the great poet and painter of Israel. He was born in 1923 and died in 2003 in Haifa. I kept in touch with him all these years.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Jul Efraim Levi