Moshe Koussevitzky

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Moshe Koussevitzky (

Moshe Koussevitzky was a lyric tenor with a spectacular and perhaps unparalleled upper register among cantors. Koussevitzky is regarded as among the greatest cantors of the 20th century. Some would place him first among peers, though that distinction is more often given to Yossele Rosenblatt or Gershon Sirota, both of whom were a generation older than Koussevitzky.

Early life and career

Koussevitzky was born in Smarhoń, now located in Belarus, on June 9, 1899; his father, Avigdor, was a music teacher and his mother, Alta, a pianist. He moved to Vilna in 1920, and served there as cantor at the Sawel Synagogue, and, starting in 1924, at the Great Synagogue of Vilna. In 1927 or 1928 he became cantor of the Tlomackie Synagogue in Warsaw, succeeding Gershon Sirota. He soon gained an international reputation, traveling to Brussels, Antwerp, Vienna, Budapest and London. In 1934 and 1936, he performed in Palestine. Koussevitzky first performed in the United States in 1938, at New York's Carnegie Hall.

Koussevitzky and his family escaped the Nazis during the Holocaust by fleeing to the Soviet Union.^[1][2] During the war years, he performed as an opera singer under the name Mikhail Koswitzky, appearing in Boris Godunov, Tosca and Rigoletto, and was honored for his contributions to national morale.

Post-war career and legacy

After the war, he returned to Poland, and the audience at one of his concerts included the ambassadors from the

• The Four Koussevitzky Boys, Cantorial Comments by Cantor Elihu Feldman, part 1
• The Four Koussevitzky Boys, Cantorial Comments by Cantor Elihu Feldman, part 2