User:Monti1

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David Montefiore [www.DavidMontefiore.com] was born in war-torn London, England to a life of music, where his father was First Cantor of the United Synagogue. As a young boy, his family emigrated to America. The young Montefiore became boy soprano soloist for the great Cantor Moshe Koussevitsky at Temple Beth El of Boro Park, New York. As Cantor, Montefiore served with distinction in Latin America’s foremost synagogue, Congregacion Israelita de la Republica Argentina in Buenos Aires and recently Cantor of Temple Beth El of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. David Montefiore’s vocal diversity has brought him international acclaim. His repertoire includes opera, oratorio, lieder, musical theatre, and the cantorial repertoire. He has performed for audiences throughout the Americas, Europe and Israel. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with the St. Cecilia Orchestra and Chorus, followed by a European debut with the Rome Festival. Performing the Haifa Symphony, Montefiore was introduced to Israeli audiences as Alfredo opposite the Luciano Pavarotti finalist, soprano Kathy Casello, in Verdi’s La Traviata. Favorite operatic roles include Nemorino, Nadir, Edgardo, and the Duke of Mantua. His oratorio performances include Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Mendelssohn’s Paulus, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass. As Artistic Director and founding member of the American Opera Repertory Company, Inc., David Montefiore directed and performed many of the standard operas in New York City. Montefiore studied voice with Giulio Gari and Milan Petrovic of the Metropolitan Opera, as well as with Olga Ryss of the Julliard School of Music. He received Great Britain’s Charles MacKenzie-Hill Vocal Scholarship to study opera repertoire with Maestro Manfredi Argento at La Scala, Milan. Because of Montefiore’s classical training he has become a catalyst for combining the cantilena of the classical line with the fervor of the cantorial recitative. As board member and President of the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of America and Canada [www.theJMCA.com] Montefiore traveled to Rome with his colleagues at the invitation of the Vatican to sing for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican on January 18, 2005. Cantor Montefiore is Director of The Cantors' Conservatory in Tucson, Arizona [www.CantorsConservatory.org] The Conservatory's Mission: The establishment of an academic and cultural center for the education and training of Cantors for the performance of Jewish liturgical music on an international level. To foster and preserve the traditional models of the sacred art of Jewish Music in the style of the Scuola di Bel Canto – Italian School of Beautiful Singing. And finally, to encourage those gifted individuals to pursue a vocal career in the environment of the synagogue. Montefiore is a voting member of the National Academy of the Recording Arts and Sciences [Grammys).