Sidor Belarsky

Ukrainian-American bass, born February 12, 1898 in Kryzhopol, Ukraine and died June 7, 1975 in New York City. Voice: Basso cantante (a bass with a higher and lighter register than basso profondo who sings with an expanded voice and more flexibility). Sidor Belarsky was born "Isadore Livshitz" and was a graduate of the State Conservatory at Leningrad and former leading basso of the Leningrad State Opera Company. He arrived in America on February 8, 1930 with his wife and daughter. From 1932 through 1936, he lived in Los Angeles, where he embarked on a singing career with the Los Angeles Symphony. Belarsky's career in Jewish music followed this period. Although he devoted much of his time to teaching music at the Jewish Teachers Seminary in New York City, he regularly gave concerts throughout Europe, the Middle East, Canada, South Africa and South America. He visited and sang in Israel in 1948 to celebrate its birth. In 1951 he traveled there again to make the documentary film, "Shalom Israel". As a pre-eminent collector, disseminator and interpreter of classic cantorial music, Chassidic nigunim, Yiddish folk songs and Hebrew songs from Israel, he has breathed new life into songs that might have otherwise been forgotten.