Max Fishman

Max Fishman
Max Fishman in 1961
Born(1915-12-12)December 12, 1915
DiedSeptember 24, 1985(1985-09-24) (aged 69)
Occupations
  • Composer
  • Pianist
  • Teacher
Years active1928–1985
AwardsMedal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" Medal "Veteran of Labour" Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
Musical career
GenresClassical music


Max Shakhnovich Fishman (Polish: Mieczysław (Mietek) Fiszman /Fischman/; Romanian: Max Fișman; Russian: Макс Шахнович Фишман, known as Max Benovich Fishman), (December 12, 1915—September 24, 1985) was a Moldavian Soviet composer, pianist, and teacher. Fishman was raised within Jewish, Polish, and Russian cultural traditions.

Born in Warsaw he studied piano at the Chopin University of Music. He was well-known in the Polish music scene. During the Nazi invasion in Poland in 1939 he fled to the Soviet Union. Later he was arrested by the NKVD and deported.

In the 1950s, Fishman lived in Chișinău. He laid the pedagogical foundation of the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in Chișinău. He composed, including piano concertos, chamber music and orchestral works. His aesthetic reflects blend of Ashkenazi Jewish folk motifs, Slavic Romanticism, and Soviet neoclassicism.