Richard Tucker

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

Richard Tucker, born 113 years ago today, was both a gifted Cantor and, over three decades, the New York Metropolitan Opera Company’s leading American tenor. While starring at the Met, he continued to serve as a Holiday Hazzan.

Tucker served as Cantor in Passaic, New Jersey; in the Bronx; and at the renowned Brooklyn Jewish Center. He recorded Yiddish and cantorial music, including popular albums of the Yom Kippur liturgy and the Passover Seder. In 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, he led a Seder in Saigon for American military personnel.

Together with the iconic Maria Callas, Tucker appeared in Aida – one of the first operatic performances to be broadcast on national television. He also appeared, inter alia, in Madama Butterfly, Pagliacci, and (with Franco Corelli) in Cavalleria Rusticana.

Despite their obvious ethnic and religious differences, Luciano Pavarotti wrote that, “For me, Richard Tucker was, and always will be an ‘Italian’ tenor.”

Richard Tucker died unexpectedly at age 61, while on a concert tour with Robert Merrill. His funeral was held on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House – the first and only singer to be accorded that honor.

“The Lord put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God. May many see it and stand in awe” (Psalm 40:4).

Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.” The latest edition of Masorti published in the summer of 2026 and honors the American Sestercentennial. A subscription is $18 per annum. Print copies are available from Ben Yehuda Press and Amazon.