Opera Star Returns To Rockville Centre As High Holy Days Soloist

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY — Rockville Centre will welcome home one of its own this month when New York City-based baritone and opera veteran Samuel Rachmuth returns to Central Synagogue - Beth Emeth to serve as the cantorial soloist at the synagogue’s High Holy Day services.

Growing up on Hempstead Avenue in Rockville Centre, synagogue officials said Rachmuth went to the Jacob’s Ladder preschool and the Jewish Experience Hebrew school before participating in the synagogue’s choir and making his Bar Mitzvah there.

According to the man himself, CSBE has been a pivotal part of his life both spiritually and musically.

“CSBE helped to act as the fulcrum of my life when it comes to sorting the priorities of music and faith,” Rachmuth said. “I have discovered that my dedication to classical music and performance goes truly hand in hand with my desire to be involved in my faith.”

In the years since he sang in CSBE’s choir, Rachmuth has racked up performances across the United States, with companies like the Central City Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Opera Saratoga and Sarasota Opera on his CV alongside a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Mannes College of Music.

While he has been part of Shabbat services at CSBE since 2022, the High Holy Days will mark the first appearance as Cantorial Soloist for the Rockville Centre native, who said these services would carry some extra meaning: Not only would he be celebrating an important day in his faith, but he would join the ranks of past cantors who he saw as a child.

“As I am preparing for the High Holidays, there is an immediate emotional connection to the music because it echoes my childhood and memories of our past cantors in our shul,” Rachmuth said. “There’s a deeper emotional identity and connection tied to the religious text.”

Rachmuth said he had been working closely with Rabbi Aviva Bass to prepare for his cantorial role on the High Holy Days, noting that his job on an occasion like this one is a bit different from the job he does as an opera singer.

“My goal and job here is to usher us through the service and to help support the intensity of moments that call for it liturgically,” Rachmuth said. “I see it as I am walking the congregation through this powerful moment. I may be walking at the front, but I’m certainly not ahead.”

Even if the assignment is slightly different from that of a concert hall, Bass said some of the skills he has honed in those halls will be more than welcome at CSBE.

“He has a beautiful baritone voice and now sings professionally. It is wonderful for him to return to the synagogue in this professional capacity, as the cantorial soloist for this year’s High Holy Day services,” Bass said. “Working with him has been wonderful, and he will bring a great deal of musicality and spirituality to our worship this year.”

For Rachmuth, the homecoming is more than an opportunity to ply his trade: It’s a chance to return to the house of worship that built him.

“I’m truly excited to see everyone in my community,” he said. “It’s always such a joy when I come back for the holidays and see faces I have not seen in quite a long time.”