Cantor Benny Rogosnitzky

Some people must search for their calling in life, and some people are just born with the tools — the gift — to make their life’s work easy to spot. Such is the case with Cantor Benny Rogosnitzsky.

Born in Liverpool, England, young Benny discovered his voice and his passion for singing at the tender age of six. After a move to South Africa, Benny had the opportunity to meet Cantor Johnny Gluck, the chief cantor in Johannesburg at the time. Each Saturday morning, Benny would go to hear Cantor Gluck lead services, and at a mere seven years old, Benny was introduced to the choir and eventually became a child soloist.

At that point, realizing Benny’s talent, Cantor Gluck took him under his wing and began tutoring Benny privately until he became ill and could no longer continue to do so.

Returning to England at 16, Cantor Benny, as he is popularly known, was invited to lead High Holiday Services at the prestigious Brighton and Hove Synagogue. At the same time, he furthered his Jewish Studies in the Manchester Yeshiva, and subsequently pursued his higher education at the Royal Manchester School of Music and Art, where he earned his Masters Degree in Music Theory.

After obtaining his Masters Degree, Benny worked as the cantor at the Southport Hebrew Congregation and then the Sale Hebrew Congregation before coming to the United States. The post of Senior Cantor of the prestigious Jewish Center on the upper West Side came to him in the year 1996. He later served there for 13 years.

In 2009, Benny became the cantor at Park East Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Far from limited in his duties as a cantor, since coming to the United States, Cantor Benny has not only lectured widely on music and its application to prayer, but also served as a guest lecturer at the Yale Conservatory of Music in the USA. He has produced several concerts, performing worldwide in New York, London, Tel Aviv, South Africa and Warsaw.

Cantor Benny has also worked tirelessly to found and support Cantor’s World, a business dedicated to the appreciation, enhancement and proliferation of cantorial music. In addition, Benny has been instrumental in the organization of many charitable functions.