Born in 1884 to a Jewish family in Irkutsk , Russia , Gershkovitch grew up listening to chamber music and was sent to Saint Petersburg in his late teens to study at the Imperial Conservatory . Gershkovitch arrived with " 17 rubles in his pocket and his flute under his arm " ; he auditioned and was awarded a scholarship . At the Conservatory , he learned from respected Russian composers such as Alexander Glazunov , Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Nikolai Tcherepnin , and completed coursework in opera and ballet production . In 1913 , he graduated with honors in flute and conducting , and was awarded the Schubert Scholarship for a year of study under German conductor Arthur Nikisch in Berlin . However , World War I forced Gershkovitch to return to Irkutsk and enlist in the military . Gershkovitch began his conducting career as head of the Imperial Russian Army 's military symphony orchestra , a position he held through the 1917 revolution . In 1918 , Gershkovitch married in Irkutsk and established a successful fine arts conservatory and symphony orchestra , which continued under the Bolshevik regime . Gershkovitch and his wife left Russia in 1921 for China , where they befriended composer Aaron Avshalomov . Ballerina Anna Pavlova offered Gershkovitch an assistant conductor position with her orchestra , which was touring throughout the Orient . Gershkovitch settled in Tokyo to lead the newly organized Tokyo Symphony Orchestra until the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 " disorganized all the business and musical interests of the city " . The couple fled Japan and arrived in San Francisco in November 1923 . They eventually made their way to Portland in 1924 ; it was here that Gershkovitch was approached by Dodge to lead the Portland Junior Symphony . Gershkovitch taught flute and conducted the Ellison-White Conservatory 's student orchestra , at the time directed by Jacob Avshalomov , until his new PJS duties required his full attention
Great Kantō earthquake
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
Portland Youth Philharmonic