Raymond Smolover

Cantor Dr. Raymond Smolover, January 15, 1921 - September 11, 2015

Cantor Dr. Raymond Smolover, esteemed clergyman, passed on at the age of 94 on September 11, 2015, at home, surrounded by his family.

In 1921, just months after he was born, he was carried by his parents as they walked across Europe away from pogroms in Ukraine and reached a ship to voyage to America. The family settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he started his musical journey at age 8 as a boy soprano soloist in orthodox synagogues, and as a singer in gospel tents, throughout the humble Hill district of Pittsburgh. These experiences planted the seeds for an extraordinary career as a leading cantor in the Reform Jewish movement, a progressive clergyman dedicated to interfaith collaboration, an operatic and concert tenor, composer, librettist, teacher, author, and scholar.

Cantor Smolover served as Cantor and Music Director (from 1949 -1994) and Cantor Emeritus (from 1994 - 2015) of Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, New York, and also served as Executive Vice President of the America Conference of Cantors from 1968 - 1992. For more than six decades Cantor Raymond Smolover was a leading and transformative figure within the Reform Jewish movement in America, a respected pedagogue and educator, and a driving force behind the creation, production, and promotion of new artistic music of Jewish experience within and beyond the synagogue.

Dr. Smolover was a classically trained tenor and first place winner of numerous awards, including the Metropolitan Opera Auditions on the Air (1952) and the Jewish Concert Bureau Competition (1948). His professional singing career included leading tenor roles with the New York City Opera, the New England Opera Theater, the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Berkshire Mountain Music Festival, and numerous concerts at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and on television. His recordings of art songs, liturgy, and original compositions, include: “The Sound of the Shofar: Music of the High Holy Days,” “Yiddish and Israeli Art Songs and Duets,” “Chassidic Sabbath,” “Chassidic Gems,” “Edge of Freedom,” “Gates of Freedom,” and “Where the Rainbow Ends.”

Cantor Smolover was a accomplished and ground-breaking composer. In the 1950s he founded and directed the Opera Theatre of Westchester and the Westchester Music Drama Theater, which commissioned and produced chamber operas of Jewish content — all with his own libretti: “Isaac Levi,” “Chelm,” “The Golem,” “The Sons of Aaron,” “The Last Sabbath,” and “David, Son of Jesse.” At the age of 47 he began to compose liturgical music. His initial composition, “Edge of Freedom,” the first folk-rock Friday night service, was commissioned by the National Federal of Temple Youth, premiered at the Biennial of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in Montreal, Canada, recorded by Bell records in 1967, and changed the face of Jewish liturgical music forever. “Edge of Freedom” was followed by “Gates of Freedom,” a folk-rock Saturday morning service. Cantor Smolover wrote “Proclaim Liberty,” a work for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra that was presented at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta on the occasion of the American Bicentennial, with Mayor Andrew Young narrating; and “Where the Rainbow Ends,” an interfaith folk-rock cantata and ceremony that was commissioned by the American Jewish Committee, the Council of Churches, and Canisius College of Buffalo, New York, and premiered in New York at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and performed later at at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Interviews and a collection of some of Cantor Smolover’s compositions are available on the Milken Archives of Jewish Music website.

Cantor Smolover was actively engaged in voice research and education for five decades. Cantor Smolover maintained a popular voice studio in Manhattan and taught voice privately in Manhattan and in Scarsdale, New York for many years, in connection with which he published several books —including “The Vocal Essence,” a handbook for singers and actors (1971); “Vocal Behavior Analysis and Modification” (1983), which began as his doctoral dissertation; and “Sing Your Best: Seven Vocal Exercises That Really Work” (2006). As a leading teacher of voice in New York City, he taught a broad spectrum of opera, theater, and recording artists, including Richard Kiley, Tony Randall, and Paul Dano, and worked with extensively with both young and mature voices. Dr. Smolover became Director of the Foundation for Research in Singing of the International Association for Research in Singing, overseeing a network of research associates, and generating a number of voice research symposia. He presented “Singers in Performance” at the New York City Public Theater, “Project Trysing: Training Young Singers,” at New York University, and “Singing Dancers/Dancing Singers,” at the New School for Social Research.l

Cantor Smolover’s “Legacy Haggadah” was published in 2012. He is also the author of a screenplay “The Legacy,” and numerous children’s books, short stories, and books for families, including “How to be the Best Grandfather in the World.”

Following the receipt of his bachelor of arts degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology/Carnegie Mellon University, where in addition to being a voice major he was the concert master of the orchestra, and his service as a chaplain in the United States Army, he earned a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, followed by a professional diploma in music education. He received his cantorial education and investiture from the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and then earned a doctoral degree (Ed.D.) from Columbia University.

Cantor Smolover celebrated his 90th birthday in Washington, DC and was honored at Temple Sinai at a special Shabbat Shira service celebrating his career as a Cantor and composer and featuring his compositions. Following the service he was personally congratulated in by President Barack Obama who asked Cantor Smolover what the secret was to his longevity. Cantor Smolover replied that he attributed it to three things: “a little luck, a lot of love, and the wisdom to feel and express gratitude.”

Cantor Smolover was married to his junior high school sweetheart Evelyn Ada Goltz Smolover for 62 years. He is survived by his adoring family, his three children Maura Smolover (Peter Zsiba), David Smolover (Barbara Smolover), and Deborah Smolover (Eric Bord), and four grandchildren, Jesse Smolover, Alesandra Zsiba, Liana Eve Smolover-Bord and Aydin Isaac Smolover-Bord.

Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 on Wednesday September 16th at Congregation Kol Ami, 252 Soundview Avenue, White Plains, New York followed by burial at Sharon Gardens in Valhalla, NY. The family will be sitting Shiva at Congregation, Kol Ami from 4:00 to 9:00 on September 16th and from 2:00 to 6:00 September 17th. The family asked in lieu of sending flowers to make donations to Congregation Kol Ami -- Smolover Music Fund.