Brooklyn-born baritone Robert Paul Abelson is a noted cantor and cantorial teacher within the Reform movement, and he has achieved recognition as a concert and opera performer and song recitalist. For many seasons a member of the New York City Opera, his orchestral appearances have included the Philadelphia and Dallas symphony orchestras and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. Abelson has always shown a special devotion to Yiddish song, art and theatrical, having studied under the distinguished Yiddish artsong composer Lazar Weiner. An active performer in film, television, and theater, especially in Yiddish productions, Abelson has always shown a special devotion to Yiddish song, both art and theatrical. He starred in New York in the Jewish musical review On Second Avenue and in the 1990 Broadway musical Those Were the Days. He also sang a lead role in Gimpel the Fool, the acclaimed Yiddish opera by David Schiff. Abelson received his cantorial investiture from the School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion, in New York, where he has served on the faculty for many years. He is the cantor of Temple Israel in New York and a member of the American Conference of Cantors.
