Esther_Ghan_Firestone
Esther Ghan Firestone (1925 – 28 May 2015) was the first female cantor in Canada, although she was not ordained.[1][2] She began as a cantor in the mid-1950s at Toronto’s Temple Beth-El, and worked in Toronto at Temple Beth-El (mid-1950s to mid-1960s), Temple Emanu-El (1977), and later at Congregation Habonim Toronto from 1985 until some time in 2015.[3] She was also a member of Kol Nashim (Hebrew for “All Women”), a sextet of female lay cantors founded in 1987.[4]
Aside from her cantorial work, she was a singer; after training as a pianist in Winnipeg and giving several recitals in Manitoba, she began voice studies in 1944 in Toronto with Nina de Gedeonoff and at the TCM with Emmy Heim.[4][5] In 1948 she won second prize in an international scholarship contest sponsored by Carnegie Hall.[5] Her first recital in Toronto was in 1950 at what was then called Eaton Auditorium (now the Carlu), with her uncle accompanying her on violin.[4] She later sang on CBC Radio’s Canadian Cavalcade from 1949 to 1951, and on its Stardust program between 1957 and 1960.[4] In 1951, she made her operatic debut with the CBC Opera Company, playing Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème; she also performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and in concerts at the CNE Bandshell.[4] She also worked as a choirmaster and arranger of music, most notably of an Israeli-Canadian peace song, Lay Down Your Arms.[4] She also conducted the YMHA Choral Group, the Toronto Hadassah Women's Choir (1967-74), and the J.C.C. Singers (1980s), who recorded folk songs in 1984.[5] In 1971 and 1973, with three of her children, she recorded Let's Sing English Songs, a collection of 52 songs for distribution in Japan by the Tokyo Kodomo Club.[5] She was also co-founder (along with Eli Rubenstein) and conductor of the Habonim Youth Choir.[5]