The great hazzan Cantor Moshe Schulhof passed away this morning. His life and work had a powerful impact on many of our friends in the cantorate, and the Jewish world at large.
Moshe Schulhof, an icon of the cantorial world and superstar of the concert stage, was born in New York City and began his singing career there as a child prodigy at the early age of six, when he performed a cantorial piece before an audience of 2,000 in New York. Foreseeing a great cantorial career in his future, at the age of eighteen the famed Cantor David Kusevitsky took him under his personal tutelage. Growing up, Moshe learned to sing in seven different languages and eventually decided to follow in the spiritual path of his father who was a rabbi and his grandfather, who was a cantor in Austria.
Schulhof studied cantorial singing and opera in New York and Montreal conservatories. At the early age of 18, he was appointed to his first pulpit in New York. Subsequently, he has held some of the most important cantorial positions in Montreal, Los Angeles and Miami as well as at the famed Concord Hotel in New York. As an internationally renowned concert artist, Moshe is in constant demand on the concert stage as well as guest cantorial appearances throughout the world thrilling Jewish as well as non-Jewish audiences the world over. Until October 2005 he served for nine years as the cantor of the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center Beth Jacob in North Miami Beach, considered by many as the premier cantorial pulpit in the United States today, where his awesome vocal talent and spiritual guidance inspired thousands of congregants.
During his career, Schulhof has performed in concerts with the Israeli Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony and other great Orchestras throughout the world and has released many very popular albums throughout the years. His most recent being “Moshe Schulhof Sings the Classics.” performed with the Romanian State Philharmonic and shortly he will be releasing a collection of live performances entitled the "Artistry of Moshe Schulhof Live." He has appeared in a concerts with other renowned cantors including his teacher David Kusevitsky, Shmuel Vigoda, Shalom Katz, David Bagley and Moshe Stern as well as with many of his contemporaries such as Benzion Miller, Yakov Motzen, Yitzhak Meir Helfgot and otheres.
In 1988, he was called upon by the American Society for the Advancement of Cantorial Art to be one of the representatives of the American Cantorate in a series of spectacular and historic concerts in the then Soviet Union, Romania and Poland. As a guest of the respective governments, he brought Jewish music and hope to those long forsaken communities. Heads of State, the Diplomatic Corps as well as the public at large gave him standing ovations wherever he sang. His tour of Poland was covered by CBS and was shown in the United States on "Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt". The Society awarded him their gold medal and gave him the designation of "Master Cantor". A recording of this tour is available under the title "Greetings from Russia".Recently, he was called upon to sing in the Rotunda of the Capitol for members of the House and Senate of the United States
Moshe Schulhof is a prolific composer and also a recognized authority on Nusach Hatfilah as well as a gifted teacher of Hazzanut, having many students who are in themselves professional cantors and has been on the faculty of the Academy of Jewish Religion in New York as an adjuct proffesor. Moshe Schulhof sings in seven languages being equally at home singing secular as well as religious music to world acclaim.
(Source: MosheSchulhof.com)
