Ben Steinberg Obituary

Composer, conductor, organist, and music educator Ben Steinberg were from Canada.

He is renowned for his contributions to Jewish music and is a member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre.

Ben Steinberg Obituary

For the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he has performed numerous programs of Jewish music, some of which included his compositions. He has also performed similar programs in lecture-recitals around Canada, the United States, Australia, and Japan.

Additionally, he has written pieces about Jewish music for several magazines. The University of Calgary library has a collection of several of his original manuscripts and papers.

Steinberg was the son of cantor and conductor Alexander Steinberg and was born to Jewish parents in Winnipeg. He began singing solos in his father’s synagogue choir at the age of eight.

He studied piano with Samuel Dolin, singing with Weldon Kilburn, and composition with John Weinzweig at The Royal Conservatory of Music from 1948 to 1951 and 1957 to 1960. At the University of Toronto, where he also studied music instruction, he received a Bachelor of Music in 1961.

In Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple, Steinberg was named director of the music program in 1950. He retained this post until 1960 when he was named the temple’s music director. He held that position until 1970 when he was appointed music director at Temple Sinai.

He worked as a public school teacher in the Toronto area from 1953 to 1958. In 1961, he was named the director of the music program at Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute.

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