Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance

The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (), is a school for the music and the performing arts in Jerusalem. It is located on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. History The Jerusalem Conservatory of Music was founded in August 1933 by violinist Emil Hauser, who served as its first director. His wife, Helena Kagan, a pioneer of pediatric medicine in pre-state Israel, was honorary secretary in 1938–1946. The principal of the school was Yocheved Dostorevsky, a pianist who immigrated to Jerusalem from Vienna. Israeli composer Josef Tal headed the academy in 1948–52. Classes were held at a building on the corner of Kikar Zion in the center of Jerusalem. As the number of students rose, the school moved to rented premises, the Schmidt building, on Hillel Street. In 1958, Samuel Rubin, president of the Norman Foundation (now the America-Israel Cultural Foundation), donated a large sum of money to purchase a building on Smolenskin Street in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood. The inauguration took place in the presence of Golda Meir, Teddy Kollek and other dignitaries. At the ceremony, the school was renamed the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. That same year, the Academy library was established under the leadership of Claude Abravanel. During his 35 years as director, the library collected books, journals, scores, first editions and the like. The collection now resides in the Academy's library and in the Israeli music archives, founded in 1988.