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Susan Cohen DeStefano, a native of Brooklyn, NY, began singing in choruses, plays and the synagogue at the age of seven. As a Junior Congregation member at the East Midwood Jewish Center, she started chanting services about two years later, and continued doing so until she graduated from its Hebrew high school. At Midwood High School and Sarah Lawrence College, Susan was a choral soloist and section leader. The College’s Touring Chorus performed at major music festivals in Europe, Israel and the former Soviet Union. She received a B.A. degree in Music and Theatre from Sarah Lawrence, and attended the Circle-in-the-Square Theatre School after graduation. She also continued her vocal studies, while pursuing a law degree and a full-time career in labor relations, and performed featured roles with the Verdi Square Opera Company, Opera Stage, and the New York Lyric Opera. She was encouraged to study privately for the cantorate – first with Cantor Leon Berger, and later with Cantor Robert Abelson. From 1989 until 2004, Susan was the Cantor/Cantorial Soloist at Sinai Temple (now Sinai Free Synagogue) in Mount Vernon, NY and at Temple Emanu-El of Long Beach, NY. Since 2005, she has appeared in such productions: as the Mother Abbess in THE SOUND OF MUSIC and the Widow Paroo in THE MUSIC MAN with SummerStage at Leonia, as the Widow Corney in OLIVER! at the Y-PAC Theatre in Clifton, as Mrs. Higgins in MY FAIR LADY at the BroadHollow Theatre in Elmont, NY, and in the ensemble of AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS with the Chatham Opera. She lives in Englewood with her husband, journalist/author Tony DeStefano.
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