Available: High Holy Day Choir Conductor

Until last year, I was at a large, suburban Philadelphia congregation, Temple Sinai in Dresher, PA. I sang tenor in 1979 and conducted from 1980 on. Due to budget cuts, the professional High Holy Day Choir was eliminated for 2016, and at such a late date that I decided not to seek another position then.

I would like to again be a performing musician for the High Holy Days, doing my best to enhance the worship experience.

I hold a doctoral degree in Choral Conducting and was a full-time member of the faculty at the Mannes College of Music in NYC (now a division of the New School) from 1988 to 1996; later I taught part- and full-time at Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ. I was a voice student of Peter Elkus (ex-husband and ex-teacher of Frederica von Stade) and I have a long musical resume – I play and teach a number of instruments, and I’m in my second year as organist and music director at a local church. Most of my living comes from giving private lessons in our home. I’m also an arranger of both choral and instrumental music.

I have perfect pitch – the choir at Temple Sinai was an unaccompanied octet. The synagogue did not use instruments on Shabbat and holidays.

אני יכול לבטא את עצמי בעברית

I grew up in the Philadelphia area, then moved to NYC in 1982 for graduate school but continued to return to Temple Sinai each year for summer rehearsals and then the High Holy Days. Because I still have family in the area, I would consider a position in Bucks or Montgomery County, PA. My family and I live in Ridgewood, NJ, not too far from the George Washington Bridge.

The best way to find me is via email at