Cantor Andrea Rae Markowicz is the Senior Cantor of Am Shalom in Glencoe, Illinois. Ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, she has an extensive background in secular and liturgical music, as well as Jewish and Israel education. She holds a Master of Sacred Music from HUC-JIR, a Master of Music from The Cleveland Institute of Music and a Bachelor of Music from University of Michigan, both in Voice Performance. Cantor Markowicz is a proud member of the American Conference of Cantors (ACC), Reform Cantors of Chicago (past president), Actors Equity Association (AEA), and the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).
Before joining the clergy team at Am Shalom, Cantor Markowicz was a Cantorial Soloist/Intern at various congregations including Central Synagogue of New York City, Temple Beth Or in Montgomery, AL, Temple Beth Shalom in Annapolis, MD, and Agudath B’nai Israel in Lorain, OH. While living in Israel, she developed close ties with independent congregation Beit Tefilah Israeli in Tel Aviv, participating in various Shabbatot over the last 9 years; as well as Ohel Avraham in Haifa, an Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) congregation for which through DOMIM-aLike, she is pioneering the first musical partnership. She also continues to collaborate with composers and performers of new Israeli progressive liturgical music.
Prior to becoming a Cantor, she toured Israel as Abigail Adams in 1776, the United States in Camelot, starring Robert Goulet, and as Miep Gies in the musical Anne Frank: A Voice Heard. Other notable credits include Carnegie Hall in Noel Coward’s Centennial Celebration and Radio City Music Hall for the the ESPY Awards. Favorite regional productions include Hair, Fiddler on the Roof (Hodel),Guys and Dolls (Sarah Brown), Over the Moon with Gilbert & Sullivan (Marion Terry), The Boyfriend (Polly Browne), The Magic Flute(Papagena), and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Music of the Night.
A highly sought after performer, concert productions include Shalom Broadwaywith Broadway Pops International, Beyond Fiddler: A Journey through Jewish Musical Theater, Regards to Jewish Broadway, and The Whole Megillah: The Story of Yiddish Theatrewith Charles Troy & Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, to name a few. Inspired by her grandfather, Philip Markowicz, a Holocaust survivor, author, and Torah scholar, she is the vocal soloist on Tikvah(available on Albany Records), a multimedia musical oratorio based on his life and philosophy that has been performed at several national venues, including as part of the 2006 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial events in Atlanta, Georgia.
Through the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), Cantor Markowicz advised on content for the URJ’s new machzor, Mishkan HaNefesh for Youth, and her voice is featured leading Havdalah and Sheva B’rachot on the app and e-book Birkon Mikdash M’at-NFTY’s Bencher. She co-chaired, produced, and directed the 2018 ACC Jack Gottlieb Memorial Concert and is slated to co-chair the ACC Mission to Israel in 2021. In addition to guest appearances on recent albums from Todd Kessler and Rabbi Noam Katz, Cantor Markowicz is proud to have recorded and produced three albums of her own via Music at Am Shalom, Lamdeini: Teach me, O God, a Blessing a Prayer, #Blessed, and Sh’ma Koleinu~Hear Our Voice: Selections from S’lichot & Kol Nidrei.
Please check out the Am Shalom Sound Sanctuary to learn more about the ongoing musical offerings at Am Shalom.
Email Cantor Markowicz or call her at 847.835.4800 ext. 262
Am Shalom is proud to be a member of the Union for Reform Judaism.