BIOGRAPHY

Other Interests

First and foremost comes my family.

Next is my life-long love, music. I miss the chamber music sessions I used to have with my first wife Devora, a fine violinist, and friends, and since her death in 1998 have not touched my cello, but I still keep in practice on the piano—I gave a recital at Wolfson College, Oxford, to celebrate my 90th birthday in 2023—play duets, and occasionally compose. I am a Trustee of the Jewish Music Institute, and was active in the revival of the International Ernest Bloch Society; with Alex Knapp I co-edited a volume of Ernest Bloch Studies for Cambridge University Press (see BOOKS section ).

As well as charitable work (Devora and I founded the Nordev Trust), I have been involved in organisations as diverse as the Jewish Law Association, the British Interplanetary Society, Rotary International (I was President of the Oxford Club in 2004/5) and the revived Lunar Society (Birmingham).

I have never been a sports enthusiast, but late in life took up running and completed two marathons (London 1995 and New York 1999), though now my exercise is restricted to walking and gardening. Together with my wife, Hilary, I have travelled all 7 continents, experiencing different cultures and observing wildlife.

 

In Desert of Sam, Rajasthan India, 2010
Photo: Hilary Nissenbaum