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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 American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). She currently serves on the Board of Visitors to the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at HUC-JIR and the Advisory Council of Kol Zimrah Jewish Community Singers. 

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; as well as Ohel Avraham in Haifa, an Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) congregation for which through DOMIM-aLike, she pioneered the first musical partnership. She continues to collaborate with congregations if the IMPJ as well as 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 an award winning production of 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 Broadway with Broadway Pops International, Beyond Fiddler: A Journey through Jewish Musical Theater, Regards to Jewish Broadway, The Whole Megillah: The Story of Yiddish Theatre with Charles Troy & Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, and Stars of David: Story to Song, Violins of Hope~Voices of Faith, 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.

In 2020-21, Cantor Markowicz was honored to serve as Adjunct Faculty at HUC-JIR (New York), teaching the next generation of cantors. She continues as a mentor to newly ordained HUC-JIR cantors through the ACC's mentorship program. Through the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), she advised on content for the URJ’s 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 co-chaired for the 2024 ACC-GTM Mission to Israel.

In addition to guest artist spots on albums from Transcontinental Music Publications, Noah Aronson, Todd Kessler, Andy Dennen, and Rabbi Noam Katz, Cantor Markowicz is proud to have recorded and produced six albums via Music at Am Shalom, "Tiny Desk" Tot Shabbat (2015), Lamdeini: Teach me, O God, a Blessing a Prayer (2015), #Blessed (2016), Sh’ma Koleinu~Hear Our Voice: Selections from S’lichot & Kol Nidrei (2017), Sh'ma Koleinu~Hear Our Voice: Selections from Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur (2018), and SOULcial Justice SHABBAT Shira (2019) - Live with Dr. Walt Whitman & Soul Children of Chicago!

For VIDEO and MUSIC to enjoy, inspire, sing with, and reflect upon, visit Am Shalom @HOME in our virtual SOUND SANCTUARY and YouTube Channel.

Email Cantor Markowicz or text/call her at 917-841-8385 (cell).