Building bridges, passing on tradition, singing!
Mimi Sheffer, soprano, grew up in Israel. Following an education in Jewish studies, she completed her studies as a flutist at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. She then proceeded to study classical singing at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv under Tamar Rachum. She won the Young Artist competition – Kol Israel prize (Radio Israel ), won two awards from the Rubin Academy of Tel-Aviv and is a four-time winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation grant. As a participant at the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute, she was invited to New York to pursue her studies at Joan Caplan’s studio.

She underwent further training in theatrics and interpretation and took part in master-classes under Renato Capecchi, Nico Castel, Rita Loving, Alfredo Kraus, Vera Rozsa and Hilde Zadek. Among her operatic roles were Mimi, Contessa, Micaela, Fiordiligi and Desdemona.

Mimi Sheffer’s cantorial career began at the West-End Synagogue inNew York City, where she was employed as a full-time cantor, and grew rapidly until she officiated at the renowned Temple Emanuel in West Hartford. In Berlin she served as cantor and spiritual leader at the Oranienburgerstrasse Synagogue. Along with her congregational duties she dedicates herself to inter-religious activities, leading workshops and performing extensively. As the only female cantor and classical singer in all of Europe, she specializes in the cross-over between Jewish liturgy and classical music and in reviving cantorial orchestral music in Europe. She offers a wide range of original and highly virtuoso programs. Her concerts are highly in demand. Mimi Sheffer has performed at the Berliner Philharmonie, where she sang the Sacred Service by Ernest Bloch and the 42nd Psalm by Felix Mendelssohn with the Berliner Symphoniker and the Singakademie, as well as at the Konzerthaus Berlin where she presented her program “aus Oper und Synagoge”.

Since 2003, she has been teaching at the Rabbinical Seminary Abraham Geiger Kolleg.

She currently lives in Berlin with her family.