Isador Goodman  Isador Goodman AM (27 May 19092 December 1982) was a South African-Australian Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. He became a household name in Australia in the 1930s-1970s, taught at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music for 50 years, introduced many Australians to classical music, and contributed hugely to music making in his adopted country. Moses Isidore Goodman was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1909 to musical parents of Jewish descent, who had immigrated from eastern Europe. He started studying music early, as well as composing. One of his compositions was performed professionally when he was only six. At age seven, Goodman played Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. After his father died when he was 12, his mother took him to London for its musical opportunities. Goodman studied piano at the Royal College of Music with Lloyd Powell, who had been a student of Ferruccio Busoni. He studied conducting with Constant Lambert. In 1924, at age 15, Goodman played Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat under Malcolm Sargent. This concerto was to become his "calling card". His mother remarried, choosing an uncle of her first husband. They returned to South Africa and left the young Goodman in London because of its greater musical opportunities. In 1929 at age 20, Goodman accepted an offer to teach at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, Australia. Local musicians opposed the decision by the director W. Arundel Orchard to bring in a man from abroad for a coveted position. Goodman was to teach at "the Con", on and off, for 50 years. While Professor of Piano by day, he often played all night at jazz clubs in the company of 'hardened drinkers and SP bookies'. In 1931, the English critic Neville Cardus, who knew nothing of the 22-year-old Goodman, attended two of his recitals. His review described him as "the best pianist in Australia. I would cheerfully stake my reputation on Mr Goodman's playing in any capital city of Europe in pieces definitely pianistic or romantic in style. ... he is a natural pianist, he plays the piano as most of the rest of us breathe ... I did not believe it possible that I could ever again listen to the D flat Waltz of Chopin with virgin and delighted ears. But Mr Goodman rippled the hackneyed piece as though for the first time - Horowitz himself could not have recreated it anew with more enchanting touch and tone and rhythm".