Don Jaffé

Jaffe was born in 1933 in Riga, Latvia, to Ella Jaffe who had attended a German business school in Riga, and Jakov Jaffe, who had studied electrical engineering in Berlin. After his studies, Jakov Jaffe returned to Riga. In 1941 the Jaffe family – Jakov, Ella, Don, and his two siblings – had to flee to Siberia.

After World War II, the Jaffes decided to return to Riga. In 1956, Don Jaffe married Elza Jaffe, born Peterson. They have two children: Ramon (born 1962, a cellist) and Diana (born 1969), a book author and expert in gender marketing). Since 1975, Don Jaffe has lived in Bremen.

At the age of fourteen, Jaffe started to learn Cello at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School, the junior music conservatory in Riga. In 1951, he was the first string player to graduate from this music school. Jaffe finished his studies there in only four years instead of the regular ten. From 1951 to 1956 he studied Cello at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Riga.

After graduation, Jaffe worked as a soloist and chamber musician and gained international success. Jaffe also taught chamber music at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and cello the Emīls Dārziņš Music School.

Don Jaffe and his family emigrated to Israel in 1971. Jaffe immediately received a position at the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and started teaching cello at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (then Rubin Academy of Music). 

In 1997, Jaffe started to work as a composer. His works are influenced by both his biography and Jewish history and often focus on the Holocaust and its victims. “It’s my mission to create musical monuments,“ Jaffe said. But he also emphasizes: “The generation of the grandchildren is not responsible for the evil deeds of their ancestors.“

In 1974, the Jaffes moved to Germany, where, as Don Jaffe put it, „their cultural roots lie“. Jaffe started to work as a solo cellist at the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. In 1975, Jaffe became a member of the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1976 to 1992 he taught cello at the Bremen University of the Arts. In 1985, the Senate of Bremen, which is the state government of Bremen, appointed Jaffe as chamber musician.

Don Jaffe is a member of Latvian Composers' Union since 2013.