Ernest Bloch was a composer born in Switzerland who later became an American citizen. Between 1911 and 1915, he worked as a teacher at the Geneva Conservatory. In 1916, he traveled across the United States with Maud Allen, a dancer from England. When the group he was with went bankrupt, Bloch decided to stay in New York. Later on, in 1920, he started as the first leader of the Cleveland Institute of Music. After his time there, he led the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and he was eventually invited to teach at the University of California at Berkeley. Bloch's music shows the influence of many composers from the post-Romantic period, including Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. He admired the use of rich, complex sounds, like those found in the music of Debussy and Maurice Ravel. This influence can be heard in his tone poem called Hiver-Printemps. Bloch was also known for creating important works inspired by Jewish themes, such as his Israel Symphony and the tone poem for cello and orchestra titled Solomon. Some of his other well-known pieces include an orchestral rhapsody named America, a Suite composed for viola and piano, and five string quartets. Through these works, Bloch showed a range of styles and interests in different musical ideas, leaving a lasting mark on the field of classical music.