Baritone hits the right note for Brighton congregation

A  soloist with the New Israeli Opera has hit the right note with the Hove Hebrew Congregation, where he is taking over the pulpit.

Rabbi Samuel de Beck Spitzer, 44, is a professional baritone who has performed principal roles in five different languages under the baton of conductors including Zubin Mehta, Justus Frantz, Christoph Poppen and Daniel Oren. He has also served a Lisbon congregation as minister.

Born in north London to French and Indian parents, he studied music before and after achieving his rabbinical qualification.

For the Hove congregation, the rabbi “embodies exactly the credentials we were seeking and fulfils our challenging expectations”, said Stanley Cohen, its chair.