German-American. Soprano. First known woman cantor, in San Francisco, during the years between 1884-1893, the only currently known example of a nineteenth century woman cantor in America. Born on March 7, 1847 in Stuttgart the daughter of Moritz Eichberg (1806-1892), a cantor of Stuttgart for many years, and Eleanor Seligsberg Eichberg (1811-1881). Julie studied music at the Stuttgart Conservatorium. At age 17, Julie came to America, joining her sister, Mrs. Pauline Weiller, a piano teacher, in Baltimore in 1864. In 1866, she married Jacob H. Rosewald, a violinist and conductor. She and her husband participated widely in Jewish community musical activities in Baltimore. She decided to further her musical studies in Europe in 1870. She began singing opera professionally in America in 1875 with the Kellogg English Opera Company.…
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Born 14 July 1904, in Vilna, Lithuania, Nadia Reisenberg moved with her family to St. Petersburg in 1915 where she studied piano at the Conservatory under Leonid Nikolaiev. After the Russian revolution, the family moved, going from Vilna, where Nadia played in the Gelios Theatre accompanying movies, to Poland where she concertized with the Warsaw Philharmonic, to Germany. The Reisenberg s came to America in 1922. Under the helpful largesse of Isaac Sherman, Nadia gave private recitals and began to build a reputation.

With less than one year of study with Alexander Lambert in New York, she gave her American debut on 17 December 1922, playing the Polish Fantasy by Ignace Paderewski, with the composer at the performance in the Century Theatre. With sterling reviews by the press, the young Miss Reisenberg began to receive invitations for more recitals.…
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Violist. Born in Haifa, Israel. Studied viola with Zvi Rotenberg and Oeden Partos. Master degree, University of California, San Diego, 1973. Joined San Diego Symphony and La Jolla Chamber Orchestra. Joined Israel Chamber Ensemble in 1975 and Israel Philharmonic, 1978. Member, Tel Aviv String Quartet and Israel Piano Trio. Teaches in the KeyNote program of Israel Philharmonic. Frequently appears in IPO ensembles.

American-born Israeli. Tziona Achishena provided this autobiographical sketch: “Tziona’s Achishena’s rich and soulful voice weaves its way through her new disc, “Miriam’s Drum”, created in collaboration with percussionist Shani Ben Canar. The album features original melodies to ancient Hebrew prayers “received” through her intuitive musicianship, and enlivened by world class percussion, transcendent harmonies, and inspired vocal improvisation. The album’s release marks the culmination of years of musical and spiritual searching. Interestingly, this process began, not through music training, but through dance. From early childhood to her first years in college at Berkeley, Tziona spent much of her time in the dance studio, studying all the major western dance forms from Ballet to Modern dance. At home, however, she was singing; and experiencing through her voice the beginnings of a sense of the revelation of soul.…
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American Reform cantor and opera singer. Born in New York City. Attended Manhattan High School of Music & Art. B.A. in vocal performance, Manhattan School of Music. Master of Sacred Music, 1986, Hebrew Union College. Also attended SF School of Psychology. Made Carnegie Hall debut with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of New York. 1974-77, Israel National Opera. 1987 began as Cantor of the Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Won Liederkranz Award and the Minna Kaufman Ruud Foundation prize. CD: “The Jewish Soul”.
http://www.emanuelsf.org/about_staff_barak.htm

American. Cantorial Soloist at Temple Emanu-El in San Diego, California, composer and singer. “Myrna received her Bachelor of Science degree in Education and Music from the University of Pittsburgh, and was employed as a counselor and youth advisor at the Irene Kaufman Center, as well as being a music specialist at the Beth Shalom Synagogue Sunday School.” Albums by Myrna Cohen include: Special Days & Lullabies and Quiet Time, Special Days: Songs for Children, and Swinging Chai. Easy to learn songs for very young children.
http://www.soundswrite.com/swmc.html

French-born mezzo-soprano Sylvie Braitman graduated from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and has performed with various regional companies. She is a performer in the fields of opera, art song, folk and popular music. Braitman focuses on 20th century music– she has premiered opera roles such as Mrs. Vallejo in David Conte’s The Dreamers (Sonoma Opera), Anja in Philippe Manoury’s 60th Parallelconducted by Kent Nagano (Berkeley Symphony). Other roles include Marcellina in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Madame Larina in Eugene Oneguin, Thisbe in Cenerentola and Mercedes inCarmen. She is a regular feature of the Berkeley Jewish Music Festival and has conceived various one-woman-shows that tell the story of her family’s Holocaust experience through the use of Yiddish music, acting and story telling.…
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Another sister of the Menhuin family, a pianist who died at age 81 She was born Oct. 2, 1921 in San Francisco. Married to Benjamin Lionel Wolfe Oct. 1941 Divorced in 1960 and married Joel Taylor Rice in June 1960. She died June 9, 2001 at Canfield Gardens, London, England.

Soprano. First confirmed cantor in the Humanistic Jewish movement. Specializes in singing in Yiddish, Ladino and Hebrew. Currently with Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble, based in San Diego, CA.
http://www.secondavenueklezmer.com/

Mira Waksman-Kimiagaroof, a San Francisco-based artist, sings in Hebrew, although many compositions are Sephardic (Mediterranean and Middle Eastern) tunes that come from Uzbekistan, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Morocco and other Arabic countries. Her parents were of Uzbeki and Afghan heritage and she comes from a cantorial and family. She combines her Israeli musical influences blended with musics from others she works with. Mira’s website has a brief bio, features two recordings and press info. There are photos, but no labels.
http://www.mirasings.com

American. vocalist. Sings traditional Yiddish music in Marin County/San Franscisco Bay Area and with Hot Kugel band.
www.hotkugel.com

Vocalist, Cantor and composer. Founder and director of jazz a cappella ensemble “Vocolot” , a California Arts Council Touring Artist group. Active primarily in the Western United States. Her discography includes “Marcia Falks Blessings in Song” with Fran Avni,”Heart Beat” (2002), “Behold” (1997), “Roots and Wings” (1992), “Gather Round” (also songbook)(1989), “Skies Ablaze”, and “More than Luck and a Prayer”. Works at the Conservative congregation Temple Beth Shalom, San Leandro, CA as a cantor since 1988. Directed first Jewish Women’s International Chorus in Kiev (1994). Hirshhorn has also written songs that became part of a UAHC social justice recording, including “Circle Chant” and “Homeless Blues”.
Linda Hirshhorn webpage

American. Born December 14, 1914,in Chicago. Pianist. Graduated Julliard School of Music, 1935. Studied with Olga Samaroff. Carnegie Hall Debut Oct. 18, 1935. and Town Hall Young Artist Award with all-Bach concert over six weeks in 1937. She taught extensively in the New York area, and also toured frequently in Europe, Israel, South Africa and South America. Recorded Bach and other keyboard reportoire for harpsichord, clavichord and organ. Recipient of five honorary doctorates. Publications included Introduction to the Performance of Bach (1960). Taught at Mannes College (1940-1944); Julliard (1943-1955); Univ. of California at San Diego (1966-1972) and Yale (1991-1993). In 1994 she founded the Tureck Bach Research Institute at Oxford. Her CDs are still widely available. Many of her papers are held at the Special Collections of Mugar Library, Boston University and at the New York Public Library, Music Division at Lincoln Center.…
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