MALOVANY, JOSEPH

MALOVANY, JOSEPH (1941– ). Born in Tel Aviv, Malovany served as cantor at Tel Aviv's Bilu synagogue, cantor of the Israeli army, and then from 1963 to 1968 ḥazzan of the Yeoville synagogue, Johannesburg, and from 1968 to 1973 of the Edgeware Synagogue, London. In 1973 he was appointed chief cantor to the Ateret Ẓevi Congregation of Fifth Avenue, New York. Malovany held music diplomas from the Tel Aviv Academy of Music and Great Britain's Royal Academy and Trinity College of Music. He was also honorary president of the Cantorial Council of America and past chairman of the board of the American Society of Jewish Music. He held the academic positions of distinguished professor of liturgical music at Yeshiva University and dean of the JDC Moscow Academy of Jewish Music. Malovany possessed a brilliant spinto tenor voice and was a much sought-after artist with orchestras and choirs worldwide. He was the possessor of an extensive discography of cantorial and contemporary Jewish music. On January 26,2004, he received the honor of being knighted as Commander of the Legion of Honor by the president of Poland in appreciation of his musical contribution to the international and Polish communities. He was the first Jewish cantor to receive this award from Poland. (Akiva Zimmerman / Raymond Goldstein (2nd ed.)