BIOGRAPHY
Praised for his "beautiful voice" that is "at once strong and forceful but also under complete control"
with "wonderful control of dynamics...remaining steady even in the softest passages...yet strong and powerful",
and hailed as "one of the most remarkable cantors in the United States",
BEN TISSER
Cantor, performing artist, arranger, lecturer,
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currently serves as Hazzan of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, IL. Previously he served on the Cantorial staff of B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, FL, the largest Conservative synagogue in the southeastern United States, as well as at congregations in New York City and Los Angeles, where he started his career as the youngest Cantor in the city. He is a past member of the Executive Council of the Cantors Assembly, the largest body of Hazzanim in the world, and since 2016 has served as President of the Midwest Region of the Cantors Assembly. Most recently, his voice was included in an exhibit entitled "Prayer" at The Art Institute of Chicago in 2018, and since 2019 he has been featured as the voice of the young Warsaw Ghetto Uprising hero, Mordechai Anielewicz, in the Resistance Gallery of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center's permanent collection.
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An active performer, Tisser served as visiting Hazzan and scholar to the Jewish community in Dresden, Germany, in 2019, following a successful visit in 2018 to Communaute Massorti Maayane Or in Nice, France. In 2016, he toured Spain with the Cantors Assembly, where he performed in the Palau de la Musica Catalan (Barcelona), Teatro Goya (Madrid), and the Real Ventra de Antequera in Seville. Additionally, he has performed in synagogues at at community events around the country, as well as at UCLA's Royce Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Highlights of 2018 included performances alongside legendary Cantor Alberto Mizrahi in Long Beach, California; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago. He has also been seen on stage at the 2015 USCJ Shape the Center convention, and is a regular performer at FJMC conventions and programs. Tisser is scheduled to be the featured soloist at the Neue Synagoge in Dresden (Germany) with the famed Semperoper Chorus in a special concert funded by the German government, celebrating 1700 years of German Jewry. His repertoire ranges from traditional Cantorial recitative to Italian art song, Broadway to opera, Israeli folk, pop, and art songs to Yiddish Theatre, and spans eight languages.
In 2011, based on his selection by Hazzan Robert Kieval, then Director of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School at JTS, he was awarded the Hazzan Louis Danto Memorial Award, presented to a JTS Cantorial student for Excellence in the Presentation of Hazzanut, and in that same year he received a Citation from Nassau County (New York) in recognition of his artistry and service to the community.
An active composer and arranger, Tisser’s composition “Achat Sha’alti” was been selected as a finalist for the 2013 Shalshelet Jewish Music Festival in Miami Beach, where it was published in the Festival’s Song Book and will be part of the Festival’s Workshop. He has also composed a number of other settings of liturgical music, available through his online catalog, and actively arranges for synagogue choirs around the world. He is currently (2020-21) composing a dramatic setting of the Shabbat Musaf Kedusha, which will be available scaled for Cantor and piano, as well as for Cantor, choir, piano, and string quartet.
Tisser has served as guest cantor, lecturer, and Scholar in Residence at synagogues around the country, speaking on the changes in davening style and "shul music" in Conservative synagogues. In addition to other topics, he has spoken on the topic of how music can be used as a midrashic tool to enhance prayers and how congregants can take a more active role - a topic taught to him by his friend and mentor, Dr. Michael Isaacson. He also is very active in the local Jewish community, performing at a variety of events hosted by community and international Jewish organizations throughout the country. At his congregation he enjoys teaching classes on a range of topics, from poetry and sacred text, to survey classes on all matters of Jewish music, Israeli culture and television, and, of course, wine (his other passion)!
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Hazzan Ben Tisser began studying Hazzanut at age seven, when he began studying with, and leading services alongside, Cantor Herschel Fox at Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Encino, CA. From an early age he studied Cantorial accompaniment and composition under renowned composer Aminadav Aloni, z"l, and took over Mr. Aloni's position as organist at Valley Beth Shalom. He has also studied composition with Dr. Michael Isaacson, and studied Hazzanut with such cantorial greats as Alberto Mizrahi, Jacob Mendelson, Robert Kieval, and Daniel Gildar.
From 2006–2010, Hazzan Tisser performed with his Cantorial troupe "2 1/2 Cantors" featuring Cantors Sam Cohen and Marcus Feldman, both in Los Angeles. They presented programs featuring traditional Hazzanut, operatic arias, Yiddish theatre and Broadway pieces, and Israeli folk music. They produced three live concert DVDs, including one in partnership with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and the Nowakowsky Chorale. They created a special tenth anniversary video in 2020, in honor of Yom Yerushalayim as part of a virtual concert Tisser produced for Magen David Adom.
Tisser completed his Masters of Sacred Music and Cantorial Investiture at the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of The Jewish Theological Seminary in May 2013, holds Bachelors degrees in Jewish Studies (Hebrew Literature) and Political Science (Middle East Affairs) from American Jewish University. He has studied voice with noted teachers Dr. Joel Ewing and Josephine Mongiardo-Cooper, and currently studies with renowned counter-tenor Mark Crayton.
Since relocating to Chicagoland in 2015, Tisser has produced ten major concerts and three recitals at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. These have included appearances by eleven Jewish collegiate a cappella groups; Grammy award-winning jazz legend Howard Levy; noted violinist Netanel Draiblate; Cantors Rachel Brook (NYC), Meir Finkelstein (Houston), Magda Fishman (Stamford, CT), Herschel Fox (Los Angeles, CA), Steven Stoehr (Northbrook, IL), and Alberto Mizrahi (Chicago); Israeli singer Bat Ella; and other special guests.
A product of the Conservative movement in its many facets, Tisser takes great pride in having attended a Solomon Schechter-affiliated elementary school, served on the board of directors of his USY chapter, and attended and worked at Camp Ramah in California. In addition, he taught Judaic Music for nine years in Jewish Day Schools throughout Los Angeles.
Outside of the Synagogue, Ben has produced dozens of concerts, bringing together artists from around the world. His proudest productions have been three concerts featuring Jewish Collegiate A Cappella groups - no less than seventy students per program. Each program drew record crowds and featured a special commission performed by all of the students at once. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, he became a leader in online concerts. He conceived of and produced a ceremony and concert bridging Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha'Atzma'ut, which brought together the major organizations of the Conservative movement. He then went on to produce similar programs for the Cantors Assembly, American Friends of Magen David Adom, and synagogues across North America.
Hazzan Tisser resides in Highland Park, IL with his wife, Robyn, daughter Talia, son Ethan, and dogs Zoey Doey Picklehead and L.C. S'mores. When he is not on the bimah or the concert stage, he can most often be found in his kitchen, preparing meals for family and friends, always with a glass of wine in hand.
(December 2020)
Click here to download a current resume
In 2011, based on his selection by Hazzan Robert Kieval, then Director of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School at JTS, he was awarded the Hazzan Louis Danto Memorial Award, presented to a JTS Cantorial student for Excellence in the Presentation of Hazzanut, and in that same year he received a Citation from Nassau County (New York) in recognition of his artistry and service to the community.
An active composer and arranger, Tisser’s composition “Achat Sha’alti” was been selected as a finalist for the 2013 Shalshelet Jewish Music Festival in Miami Beach, where it was published in the Festival’s Song Book and will be part of the Festival’s Workshop. He has also composed a number of other settings of liturgical music, available through his online catalog, and actively arranges for synagogue choirs around the world. He is currently (2020-21) composing a dramatic setting of the Shabbat Musaf Kedusha, which will be available scaled for Cantor and piano, as well as for Cantor, choir, piano, and string quartet.
Tisser has served as guest cantor, lecturer, and Scholar in Residence at synagogues around the country, speaking on the changes in davening style and "shul music" in Conservative synagogues. In addition to other topics, he has spoken on the topic of how music can be used as a midrashic tool to enhance prayers and how congregants can take a more active role - a topic taught to him by his friend and mentor, Dr. Michael Isaacson. He also is very active in the local Jewish community, performing at a variety of events hosted by community and international Jewish organizations throughout the country. At his congregation he enjoys teaching classes on a range of topics, from poetry and sacred text, to survey classes on all matters of Jewish music, Israeli culture and television, and, of course, wine (his other passion)!
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Hazzan Ben Tisser began studying Hazzanut at age seven, when he began studying with, and leading services alongside, Cantor Herschel Fox at Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Encino, CA. From an early age he studied Cantorial accompaniment and composition under renowned composer Aminadav Aloni, z"l, and took over Mr. Aloni's position as organist at Valley Beth Shalom. He has also studied composition with Dr. Michael Isaacson, and studied Hazzanut with such cantorial greats as Alberto Mizrahi, Jacob Mendelson, Robert Kieval, and Daniel Gildar.
From 2006–2010, Hazzan Tisser performed with his Cantorial troupe "2 1/2 Cantors" featuring Cantors Sam Cohen and Marcus Feldman, both in Los Angeles. They presented programs featuring traditional Hazzanut, operatic arias, Yiddish theatre and Broadway pieces, and Israeli folk music. They produced three live concert DVDs, including one in partnership with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and the Nowakowsky Chorale. They created a special tenth anniversary video in 2020, in honor of Yom Yerushalayim as part of a virtual concert Tisser produced for Magen David Adom.
Tisser completed his Masters of Sacred Music and Cantorial Investiture at the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of The Jewish Theological Seminary in May 2013, holds Bachelors degrees in Jewish Studies (Hebrew Literature) and Political Science (Middle East Affairs) from American Jewish University. He has studied voice with noted teachers Dr. Joel Ewing and Josephine Mongiardo-Cooper, and currently studies with renowned counter-tenor Mark Crayton.
Since relocating to Chicagoland in 2015, Tisser has produced ten major concerts and three recitals at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. These have included appearances by eleven Jewish collegiate a cappella groups; Grammy award-winning jazz legend Howard Levy; noted violinist Netanel Draiblate; Cantors Rachel Brook (NYC), Meir Finkelstein (Houston), Magda Fishman (Stamford, CT), Herschel Fox (Los Angeles, CA), Steven Stoehr (Northbrook, IL), and Alberto Mizrahi (Chicago); Israeli singer Bat Ella; and other special guests.
A product of the Conservative movement in its many facets, Tisser takes great pride in having attended a Solomon Schechter-affiliated elementary school, served on the board of directors of his USY chapter, and attended and worked at Camp Ramah in California. In addition, he taught Judaic Music for nine years in Jewish Day Schools throughout Los Angeles.
Outside of the Synagogue, Ben has produced dozens of concerts, bringing together artists from around the world. His proudest productions have been three concerts featuring Jewish Collegiate A Cappella groups - no less than seventy students per program. Each program drew record crowds and featured a special commission performed by all of the students at once. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, he became a leader in online concerts. He conceived of and produced a ceremony and concert bridging Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha'Atzma'ut, which brought together the major organizations of the Conservative movement. He then went on to produce similar programs for the Cantors Assembly, American Friends of Magen David Adom, and synagogues across North America.
Hazzan Tisser resides in Highland Park, IL with his wife, Robyn, daughter Talia, son Ethan, and dogs Zoey Doey Picklehead and L.C. S'mores. When he is not on the bimah or the concert stage, he can most often be found in his kitchen, preparing meals for family and friends, always with a glass of wine in hand.
(December 2020)
Click here to download a current resume