Cantor Rebecca Garfein, celebrated mezzo-soprano, has appeared in numerous concerts,

cabarets and recitals throughout the United States, Israel, and Europe. In 2005, Rebecca made

her Carnegie Hall debut in a benefit concert for the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater featuring the

acclaimed, Mandy Patinkin. In 2003, she made her debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie

Hall in a concert celebrating the release of Dr. Ruth Westheimer’s book, “Musically Speaking.”

Rebecca made her NYC Town Hall Debut with Neil Sedaka and Jay Black in another benefit

concert for the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre. Since 2016 until today, Rebecca has been playing

the role of “Fran Drescher” in Abigail Pogrebin’s musical, Stars of David all over the United

States.

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A native of Tallahassee, Florida, where her father was the Rabbi, Rebecca was a featured

soloist with the Ra’a’na’na Orchestra and the Zamir Chorale at the Jerusalem Theater in Israel

and at the 350 th anniversary concert of the Curacao Jewish Community. In 2016, Rebecca was a

featured “Diva” in Congregation B’nai Torah’s Best Divas of American Chazzanut Concert in

Boca Raton, Florida. Rebecca has been a participant in the opera program at DiCapo Opera in

New York City and at the Aspen Music Festival Opera Theatre. As a teen, Rebecca was a

participant in the Boston University Young Artists’ vocal program at the Tanglewood Music

Festival in Massachusetts where to her delight she met Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland

and sang under the baton of John Williams.

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In 1997, Rebecca was invited to participate in the Jewish Cultural Festival in Berlin, Germany

and was the first female Cantor to give a solo concert in the same city her grandfather of

blessed memory fled. At the 1998 Berlin Jewish Cultural Festival, she became the first female

Cantor to preside in a German synagogue, and released a CD of the live recording of the 1997

Berlin concert, “Sacred Chants of the Contemporary Synagogue.”

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On November 10, 2005 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, Rebecca presented

the concert and historic CD debut of her album,“Golden Chants in America...Commemorating

350 years of Jewish Music, 1654-2004,” Including music from the Spanish-Portuguese Jews,

the synagogue and the Yiddish and Broadway theater, the CD is the first U.S. recording to

feature Jewish music spanning 350 years of life in America. Dr. Ruth, who wrote the

introduction to the CD, also introduced the historic concert.

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Rebecca is a featured soloist on two recordings from the Sacred Music Press, Celebrating the

Past and Present, honoring the 50 th anniversary of the School of Sacred Music, 1999, and Kol

Sasson Kol Simcha, a commemoration of the 125 th anniversary of the Hebrew Union College-

Jewish Institute of Religion, 2001.

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Rebecca graduated cum laude from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston

with a degree in vocal performance and opera. In 1993, she received her Master’s Degree in

Sacred Music and Cantorial Investiture from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of

Religion (HUC-JIR) and in May 2018, Rebecca received her Honorary Doctorate in Music

from HUC-JIR. For 23 years, Rebecca served as Senior Cantor at Congregation Rodeph

Sholom, NYC and was their first female Senior Cantor. Rebecca is currently the Cantor at

Temple Sinai of New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

Rebecca is happily married to actor, Alexander Hatzidiakos. They currently reside in NOLA

with their two wonderful children, Max and Jake and have two adorable rescue pups named

Apollo and Xena.