BELLISON, SIMEON

BELLISON, SIMEON (1881–1953), clarinetist. Bellison studied first with his father and then, from 1894 to 1901, in the Moscow Conservatory with J. Friedrich. He performed from the age of nine and organized his own ensembles. Bellison played first clarinet in the Moscow Opera Orchestra (1904–14) and the Petrograd Opera Orchestra (1915). He served in the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War and WWI. Bellison organized the Zimro woodwind ensemble (1918), which went on tour in Asia and the U.S. In 1920 he joined the New   York Philharmonic Orchestra as first clarinetist (until 1948). He transcribed many Jewish compositions for his ensemble. The Bellison archives and a collection of his instruments are housed at the Rubin Academy of Music, Jerusalem. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Weston, More Clarinet Virtuosi of the Past. (1977), 45–7