The New York Cantors is a concert starring a trio of New York's new generation of charismatic and versatile young Cantors, who celebrate Jewish identity with its most joyous and inspiring musical treasures. They’re accompanied by a 16 piece orchestra led by the conductor and musical director of the Gulf Coast Symphony, Maestro Andrew Kurtz.
The project was launched in 2018 with a television concert for PBS that attracted a huge audience of Jewish music fans over several seasons. The broadcast coincided with Jewish holidays and were particularly successful as fundraisers for local PBS channels. The New York Cantors have been seen by millions.
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Some of the most beautiful music experienced by Jewish communities around the world throughout Jewish history are prayers sung by cantors during holidays and shabbat services. For this concert, these ancient songs have been given splendid new arrangements by the accomplished Dutch composer/arranger Bob Zimmerman. The concert also includes popular selections from the rich repertoire of secular music that has given expression to Jewish life and been a source of inspiration and entertainment to audiences worldwide. From Second Avenue to Broadway, from the Shtetl to Israel, the Jewish soul comes alive through its musical treasures.
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The New York Cantors 2024-2025 cast, all serving synagogues in New York, are: Brooklyn-born Yaakov (Yanky) Lemmer, Head Cantor of Lincoln Square Synagogue, the Central Synagogue’s Senior Cantor, Daniel Mutlu, and Cantor Chaim Dovid Berson, of the prestigious congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
The musical director of The New York Cantors is Maestro Andrew Kurtz, conductor of the Gulf Coast Symphony, Ft.Myers, Florida. Producer is Daniel Hart, long-time creator and producer of fundraising concerts for PBS The Irish Tenors, Friar Alessandro, The Voice from Assisi, South London’s famous boy choir, Libera, as well as PBS’s original cantorial trio concert in 2003, Cantors, A Faith in Song, memorably featuring cantorial greats, Alberto Mizrahi, Benzion Miller, and Naftali Hershtik.
The New York Cantors North American touring is represented by Moishe Rosenfeld of Goldenland Concerts & Connections. Email: Concerts@goldenland.com
2024-2025 Cast
Yaakov Lemmer: Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Cantor Yaakov “Yanky” Lemmer is one of the leading young cantors on the cantorial horizon. His beautiful lyric tenor voice, dramatic color, and precise coloratura have garnered him universal praise among his peers and connois seurs, alike. He began his singing career as the star soloist of the Young Israel of Bethel Choir, where world renowned cantor Ben Zion Miller took him under his private tutelage. Yaakov earned a scholarship to the Belz School of Jewish Music at Yeshiva University, where he studied with Cantors Joseph Malovany and Bernard Beer. He also studied with cantorial legend Cantor Noach Schall, and has won a scholarship for vocal training in N.Y.C. Now an internationally renowned concert artist, Yaakov is in constant demand on the concert stage and synagogues, thrilling audiences throughout the world. He has ap peared at the Tel Aviv Culture Hall with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and has been featured throughout the United States, Canada,
England, and at various European Cul ture Festivals. In addition, he tours extensively with grammy award winning, Jazz/Klez legend, Frank London and receives rave reviews for his unique interpretations of tradi tional liturgical music. He has also officiates at some of the world’s most prominent pulpits throughout the world. His repertoire spans many genres and languages, including traditional Hebrew liturgy, Yiddish folk, Opera, Broadway, Israeli, and more.
In additional to his Cantorial vocation, Yaakov is a Licensed Special Education Therapist, working with special needs children in Brooklyn, NY. He currently serves as Cantor of Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City.
Chaim Dovid Berson: Cantor Chaim Dovid Berson, born and raised in Jerusalem, is the Chief Cantor of the prestigious congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Cantor Berson received his education at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Subsequently, he graduated from the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute, receiving an unparalleled quality of training in Chazzanut, voice skills, and the Mesorah of our Tefilah, under the personal tutelage of the world-renowned Cantor Naftali Hershtik and composer Raymond Goldstein. His mellifluous, lyrical tenor voice, his deep knowledge in music and prayer as well his personal charisma, make Cantor Berson unique in his craft and much sought after as a Chazzan and singer. An internationally acclaimed Chazzan and Hassidic music singer, Cantor Berson has performed at music festivals throughout North America, Israel, and Europe. Cantor Berson has led several missions to Poland, teaching and inspiring visitors of all ages to connect to their Jewish roots and learn about the life and destruction of European Jewry. He was invited to the United Nations General Assembly, where he recited a memorial prayer for the victims of the Holocaust, has performed on Central Park’s Summerstage in a concert celebrating Israel, as well as at the Krakow Jewish Festival, and was a featured singer with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Cantor Berson has served as the Chief Cantor of The Jewish Center on
the Upper West Side of Manhattan as well as associate Cantor at the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue in Montreal and the Ohel Leah Synagogue in Hong Kong, and is constantly in demand to lead services in leading synagogues worldwide.
Cantor Danny Mendelson: Since July of 2020, Daniel Mendelson has served as senior cantor of Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, NY. A graduate of the Cantors Assembly’s Cantorial Intern Program, and the son of two distinguished cantors, Daniel was introduced to Jewish music and opera from a young
age. His repertoire runs the gamut from cantorial, to opera, to Broadway, to good old fashioned
rock n’ roll. Before arriving at Kol Ami, Daniel served as Cantor of Congregation B’nai Sholom-Beth David in Rockville Centre, New York for 8 years, where he brought engaging musical programming and innovative worship to that community. Daniel has performed all over the United States and in Europe. Daniel’s discography includes “Birthday of the World Part I” with Leonard Nimoy narrating, “Hazzonos” with Frank London, hailed as “... jazz album of the year” by Wired Magazine, “Further Definitions of the Days of Awe” with The Afro- Semitic Experience and “Yontef! A Celebration of the Yamim Noraim, The High Holidays”. Since 2011, Daniel has been a song parody and voice over contributor to The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM. Howard has hailed Daniel as “a true operatic genius!” Since 2018, Daniel has become a regularly featured national anthem performer at Citi Field for the New York Mets, as well as an anthem performer for Madison Square Garden. Over the last few years, Daniel has been exploring and composing Jewish liturgical music. His own musical
setting was selected in a nationwide contest to compose a melody for the first official Jewish
prayer for the United States Armed Forces. This Song of Service has been offered at congregations around the country. In February of 2022, the United Nations invited Daniel to offer the memorial prayer for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In January of 2023, Daniel made his Carnegie Hall solo debut as part of a program entitled We Are Here: Songs of the Holocaust. Daniel was honored to share the stage with Harvey Fierstein, Chita Rivera, Shoshanah Bean and other Broadway/Pop/Cantorial performers as well as religious dignitaries. Daniel is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he received a BFA in Film/Video Directing. Even as a filmmaker, the vocal arts haven’t escaped his work. In his short film, “Rehearsing,” Daniel starred as a neurotic opera singer trying to make his way. “Rehearsing” was nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the annual Dusty Awards. Daniel’s feature-length documentary, “Voice Teacher,” about eccentric voice coach, Donald Neil Roberts z”l, premiered at the Syracuse International Film Festival and has since screened at the Louisville Film Festival and the “World Eye” Jewish Film Festival in Ashkelon, Israel. Daniel lives in Westchester with his wife, Cantor Amanda Kleinman and their three children.