Two worlds meet
The worlds of opera and synagogue music have a great similarity in their emotional weight and
dramatic expression and this made crossing from one world to the other so common amongst
many cantors, of whom the best known are Joseph Schmidt, Richard Tucker and Jan Peerce.

In her program “Opera and Synagogue”, Mimi Sheffer, trained as both opera-singer and Cantor,
compares, confronts, expresses and lives in both worlds. “Opera is a passion, whereas synagogue
music - a longing.” “The deeper I experienced every operatic aria, the clearer I could hear its
echo in the liturgical music, until I finally allowed that echo to sound fully.”

Many of the operatic characters such as Desdemona, Adriana, Tosca and
Norma are deeply religious and express themselves in such a manner.
The program includes arias by Verdi, Puccini, Bellini, Händel and Cilea.
Synagogue works by Birnbaum, Lewandowski, Finkelstein and
Nathanson. concertlist