Bios

Chazzan Shimon Farkas is firmly established as one of the great cantors of our time, regularly invited as a guest cantor and concert artist throughout the world.  His unique voice is “unusual in quality and range, brilliant in tone, and rich in emotional warmth and expression”

Chazzan Farkas was born in Hungary, and moved to Israel as a young child.  At the age of nine, he conducted the Friday night service at the Rama Synagogue in Tel Aviva.  Following the death of his father, Chazzan Farkas and his mother immigrated to the United States where his talent was recognized by Cantor Moshe Kusevitsky who recruited the young man as his choir’s leading soloist.

At he age of 22, Chazzan Farkas was appointed as cantor of Australia’s largest Orthodox congregation, The Central Synagogue of Sydney, Australia, where he served for 15 years.  In 1987, Chazzan Farkas, was appointed cantor of the famed Concord Resort Hotel in the Catskill Region,  where he drew capacity crowds each Passover and High Holy days.

He was reappointed to his current position of Chief Cantor when the new Central Synagogue was consecrated in May 1998.
Chazzan Farkas continues to thrill audiences with his extensive repertoire, spanning seven languages, these include:  cantorial, Yiddish, Ladino, Opera and Broadway favourites.  He performs frequently in Israel, the U.S. and Europe.

In 2007 he appeared together with the famous Composer and Conductor Marvin Hamlisch and the Calgary Symphony Orchestra in a gala concert which led to the idea of reproducing this concert in Sydney.

In 2008 Shimon produced and appeared  in a Gala Concert titled “FROM BROADWAY TO JERUSALEM” in the Central Synagogue of Sydney with Marvin Hamlisch conducting the Sydney International Orchestra .

In 2009 and this year again Shimon produced and appeared with Cantor Helfgot in Gala concerts titled “SYMPHONY FOR THE SOUL”  in Sydney and Melbourne conducted by Dr. Mordechai Sobol and the Sydney international Orchestra.

In 2008 he was awarded the order of Australia  Medal for his services to The Central Synagogue and the Jewish community. Chazan Farkas resides in Sydney with his wife Veronica.