BACON, SHLOMO REUVEN

BACON, SHLOMO REUVEN (1899–1986), ḥazzan. Shlomo Reuven Bacon was born in Tchekova near Chryzanow into the Bacon family of cantors originating from Kolbuszow in Galicia. From childhood he had a beautiful voice and sang in the choir of father cantor Haim Bacon, who served as ḥazzan in the cities of Des, Berlin, and Klausenberg, and was killed in the Holocaust. Shlomo Reuven Bacon also sang in the opera in Klausenberg and won great acclaim, but his father's opposition caused him to leave the opera. He was appointed as a cantor in London and from there moved to South Africa, serving for many years as a cantor in the Yovel Synagogue in Johannesburg. He was the secretary of the Cantorial Association in South Africa. (Akiva Zimmerman)