Background
Verdina (Rosa) Shlonsky was born to a Hasidic Jewish family in the Russian Empire, the youngest of six children.
Verdina (Rosa) Shlonsky was born to a Hasidic Jewish family in the Russian Empire, the youngest of six children.
The Hebrew root of the name Verdina is וורד "vered" or "rose")
The family immigrated to Palestine in 1921, but she remained in Vienna to continue her music education. From there, she moved to Berlin, where she studied with pianists Egon Petri and Artur Schnabel. In Paris, she studied composition with Nadia Boulanger, Edgard Varèse and Max Deutsch.
Both couples soon divorced.
Upon settling in Palestine, she joined the faculty of the Tel Aviv Academy of Music.