Shlomo Ravitz was born to Moshe and Fayge in Nevhardak, Belarus. Since childhood, he had musical talents. At the age of 12, he composed cantorial pieces himself. At the age of 15, he went south to Kiev and Odessa, where he graduated with honors from a high school of music. At the age of 17, he served as a cantor in the Shaulai community and then in Lublin. When he was 21 years old, he went to Vienna to continue studying music theory. After that, he returned to Russia and served as a cantor in the cities of Berdichev, Kharkov, Hummel and Kramanchug. He also served for about six years as a cantor in the synagogue of Riga. He then served as a cantor for a short time in the Johannesburg congregation.
In 1932 he immigrated to Israel and settled there. Between the years 1934-1941 he served as the chief cantor of the Great Synagogue in Tel Aviv. Ravitz was a great educator of the chazzanut theory, and generations of cantors were educated under him. He founded and managed a singing seminar, where young men learned liturgical music and participated in the choirs he conducted. He has published Kol Yisrael, a two-volume work containing his compositions and arrangements of traditional tunes.
One of the associations he perticipated was the 'Oneg Shabbat' association founded by Haim Nachman Byalik. Ravitz managed the musical aspect of these Shabbat events, with his student choirs.
Sources: Encyclopedia Judaica, Wikipedia (Hebrew).
Additional bibliography:
'Shlomo Ravitz' on the website of the National Library of Israel.
Geoffrey Shissler's Website Biography (1971).
(The photo is taken from the 'Davar' website )
