American. Cantor. Jack Kessler was ordained as a Cantor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and went on to have a twenty-year career serving Conservative congregations. During that time he received a Master’s degree in voice from Boston Conservatory and pursued studies in composition in the graduate department of Brandeis University, where he worked with Arthur Berger and Harold Shapero, and Bethany Beardslee at Harvard. A lyric baritone, he has performed opera, oratorio, and premiered new works, in addition to his ongoing career as a singer of Hazzanut, the sacred cantorial art. Originally trained as an Ashkenazi Hazzan, his performance style and original compositions also embrace Sephardi and Mizrachi styles. Hazzan Kessler has lectured and taught master classes in Jewish music at New England Conservatory in Boston, the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, and presented many concerts in an educational format. He is the dean of the Cantorial department of the professional training program of Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and teaches a number of cantorial students.His current performance projects are directing, composing for, and being the vocal lead of the two touring ensembles Atzilut, a duet format of Arab and Jewish musicians performing together, and Klingon Klezmer, which does ‘Jewish music from other planets.’ He can be reached at:
goldenmedina@comcast.net