Canotr Ida Rae Cahana was raised in Pittsburgh, PA, where she made history and the local news at the age of seventeen, when she became one of the first women to sing in a synagogue as cantorial soloist. Ida Rae has since appeared on Broadway with Phyllis Newman, as soloist at Alice Tully Hall with Leonard Nimoy, in concerts at Merkin Concert Hall and the 92nd Street Y.  She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 and her Oregon Symphony debut in 2013. After ordination from Hebrew-Union College –Jewish Institute of Religion in 1993, she served congregations in Toledo, Ohio, Providence, R. I. and Central Synagogue in New York City. Ida Rae is a featured soloist for two recordings from the Milken Archive of Jewish music (Naxos label), of Yiddish Art Song, and on their latest release of Jewish Wedding Music. In July of 2012, Ida Rae was installed as Senior Cantor for Congregation Beth Israel in Portland, Oregon where she is delighted to be serving with her husband, Senior Rabbi Michael Cahana.  Cantor Cahana’s greatest joy is to be the “ema on the bima” for her four children, Sarit, Liora, Idit, and David.

Please join us every Tuesday evening this January for our Lifelong Learning Lecture Series. All lectures are open to the public and will be held in Zidell Hall of Rose Schnitzer Manor at 7:00 pm.