Retired Cantor Ralph Slifkin is dead

Cantor Ralph Slifkin, who enjoyed a career as a cantor with Touro Synagogue for more than three decades died on Wednesday, February 28, 2018.

Slifkin had also been an operatic singer of some note, having sung five supporting roles in performances with the New Orleans Opera. These featured roles from the mid-1950s until the early 1960s were in the opera productions of “Tosca,” “Rigoletto,” La Traviata,” “La Gioconda” and “Andrea Chenier,” according to New Orleans Opera archivist Jack Belsom.

A native of California, Slifkin received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern California before winning a scholarship to continue his studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. While attending LSU, he was offered an opportunity to play a role in the Baton Rouge Civic Opera’s production of Darius Milhaud’s “Le Pauvre Matelo.”

Slifkin was also a finalist in the Southern region for the Experimental Opera Theatre of America. He catapulted his excellent placement there into taking up additional musical studies at Loyola University with Elizabeth Wood.

Slifkin’s booming baritone was also employed when he served as master of ceremonies for the Summer Pops.

Slifkin began his career as a cantor at Touro Synagogue in 1956, retiring in 1990 after having served as an emeritus cantor.

The announcement issued yesterday from Touro Synagogue read in part: “If we are lucky, we offer something during our short visit here on this earth that will endure – something that will live on in the hearts and minds of those we encountered. For Ralph Slifkin, this gift is the sound of prayer, elevated to the high heavens. May his soul join that echo there – and may he find eternal blessing.”