Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer. From 1911 to 1915 he taught at the Geneva Conservatory. He toured the United States in 1916 with the English dancer Maud Allen, and after the tour company went bankrupt he settled in New York. In 1920 he became the first director of the Cleveland Institute of Music. He directed the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and later received an offer to teach at the University of California at Berkeley. Bloch’s music reflects many post-Romantic influences, among them the styles of Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. His interest in the chromatic sonorities of Debussy and Maurice Ravel is evident in the tone poem Hiver-Printemps. Bloch composed a significant group of works on Jewish themes, like the "Israel Symphony" and the tone poem for cello and orchestra "Solomon". His other notable works include an epic rhapsody for orchestra titled "America", the Suite for viola and piano, and five string quartets.