Ken Richmond

Image by Courtesy of Ken Richmond
Cantor
Temple Israel
Natick, Massachusetts
Age: 42
Nominated by: Himself
Song: “Ana B’choach,” Ken Richmond
As a cantor, I’ve been surprised at what a small percentage of my time is taken up with Jewish music. But my experiences and teachers of Jewish music are what drew me to be a cantor — moments like my synagogue choir joining with a gospel choir for a benefit concert, or playing klezmer music on the street while passersby danced.
It is a privilege to undertake all parts of being a cantor: to be able to daven — to lead a community in prayer — to teach and to learn, to be with people in good times and difficult ones. I see myself as a guardian of the great traditions of Jewish people, whether I’m passing on a Hasidic niggun, speaking Yiddish with my children or studying Torah. It is an honor, not only to be among those preserving the great music of our people, but also to be among those experimenting with new music to accompany old texts. — Ken Richmond
INFLUENCES: Hankus Netsky, the Klezmatics, Pete Seeger, Adrienne Cooper, Shlomo Carlebach, Cantors Charles Osborne, Lawrence Avery and Jackie Mendelson. Most of my music I create and perform with my lovely and talented wife, Rabbi Shira Shazeer, my partner and co-composer.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO