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Ashley Adler is thrilled to be performing with the Folksbiene again. You might remember her from either both productions of Di Yam Gazlonim, the Purim Shpiel, Gimpl Tam, Di Kishefmakherin and the last two Galas! She most recently performed with the NY Gilbert and Sullivan Players at NY City Center and Wolftrap's Filene Center in The Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Gondoliers. She also just appeared in The Merry Widow as Lolo, conducted by Anton Coppola and won 1st place in the 5 Towns Musical Theatre Competition. Ashley studies with Ashley Putnam at Manhattan School of Music.

Barry Black Cantor Barry Black was born and raised in Queens, New York. His professional vocal career began at age eighteen, when he was engaged by Congregation Agudath Israel of Miami Beach, thus becoming the youngest cantor in the country. His musical endeavors quickly extended from the synagogue to opera, oratorio, musical theater and concerts throughout the United States and abroad. Cantor Black has served as cantor of several prominent synagogues in Florida and New York.

From 1989 to 1996 he studied voice privately with the legendary Metropolitan Opera tenor Franco Corelli.
A lyric tenor, Cantor Black has performed much of the standard operatic repertoire including the works of Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni and Bizet. He has performed in the Yiddish Theatre productions, and is also a member of the New York State Bar. Cantor Black was featured in the role of a cantor in "Liberty Heights," a Barry Levinson film, released December, 1999. He has been the cantor of the Jericho Jewish Center since August, 2006.

Amy Goldstein Recognized as one of the most important female Jewish singers of her generation, Amy Goldstein has gained international renown for her remarkably versatile performances of opera, oratorio, holocaust and new music, cantorial chanting, and for her critically acclaimed Naxos recordings for the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music.

Ms. Goldstein comes by her talents more than honestly as she is the daughter, granddaughter and sister to the Jewish world's most beloved and revered musicians. Her father, Hazzan Jacob Goldstein ZT"L , was the protege, composer, choir leader and arranger to Hazzan Moyshe Oysher ZT"L, Hazzan Moishe Ganchoff ZT"L, R' David Werdyger, Hazzan Leibele Waldman ZT"L, and many others.  Cantor Goldstein was also the musical director of the two best-selling Chassidic recordings of all time, Songs of the Gerer Chassidm and Melitzer Chassidic Zmiros.  Amy is the granddaughter of Klezmer great William Epstein, and her brothers are Cantor Martin Goldstein of the Hebrew Educational Alliance Congregation in Denver, Cantor Adam Goldstein of the Clifton Jewish Center, and R' Daniel Goldstein, Principal of the Talmudical Institute of Upstate New York.  Ms. Goldstein's mother, Harriet Goldstein-Daar, has sung and recorded extensively for WEVD Radio, Tikva records, and for Sundance award-winning film A Tickle in the Heart.

A cantorial student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Ms. Goldstein has led congregations for Congregation Rodeph Sholom of New York City, Temple Sha'arei Shalom of Bellmore, NY, Congregation Tifereth Israel of Greenport, NY (National Register of Historic Places), Florida International University, and Tree of Life Congregation of Pittsburgh, PA.  Most recently, Ms. Goldstein  led the H.L. Miller Women's Student Ensemble in a landmark concert honoring 20 years since the investiture of the first female graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Operatic and orchestral credits include Anchorage Opera, Central City Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera, Banff Opera Theater, Britten-Pears Festival, Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater, Washington Square Opera, Danny and Sylvia Kaye Playhouse, the Czech Radio Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra,  Karlsbad Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Anchorage Festival Orchestra, Brott Festival Orchestra, and the Chicago Youth Symphony.  Recital highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall,  the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois, the Tilles Center, the Manhattan School of Music Outreach Program,  the Midreshet Ben-Gurion Salon Series, and in a rarely-performed English version of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire with the Circadia Ensemble

Ms. Goldstein was First Prize winner of the Grace Bumbry Vocal Assistance Award, the N.Y. regional winner of the Macallister Opera Awards in both 2001 and 1995 and First Prize winner with the Motyls in the 2003 Artists International Competition.

Shiree Kidron was born in Haifa, Israel. She is a versatile vocalist and musician who appeared locally and internationally as an opera singer as well as a cantorial soloist, oratorio and as a Jewish Folk Music program performer.

Ms. Kidron received her Master's Degree in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where her performance in the title role of Beauty in Spohr's Beauty and the Beast led the New York Times to acclaim her "fresh and likable young voice." Her successful Hodel in Mississippi's Natchez Opera Festival's 2006 Fiddler on the Roof earned her a return invitation by Mississippi's Jewish community to perform in a Jewish program this coming fall.

In recent years Cantor Kidron has sung with the Pacific Opera Company, including several Carnegie Hall appearances. A few summers ago she performed the lead role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at the prestigious New Opera Festival in Rome, Italy. Most recently, Shiree performed a solo Yom Ha'atzmaut program for the Israeli Consulate in Houston.

A leading young soprano, she is the Winner of the Sharon Tavor Vocal Competition for Singers and Orchestra and has performed arias of Mozart and Handel with the chamber orchestra of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She also won the David Whitcomb Foundation Award for promising young soloists.

As a Scholarship recipient of Israel Vocal Art Institute (2003-2005) Shiree has been participating at the International Opera Summer Program in Tel Aviv (artistically directed by Joan Dornemann) and sang in a gala concert at Tel Aviv Opera House.

Ms. Kidron will be appearing as the cantor for the High Holy Days and Shabbat services at Beth El Congregation in NJ commencing on September 2008.

Adam Shapiro is a graduate of Ball State University and a proud member of AEA. Off Broadway: Jewsical-The Chosen Musical, National Tour: Henry and Mudge (Mudge), Pinocchio, (Geppetto). Regional Credits: The Yiddish are Coming! The Yiddish are Coming!, Ragtime, Footloose, Little Shop of Horrors, and Annie Get Your Gun. TV/Film: Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Proposal, Comedy Central. Adam is thrilled to be singing the works of Abraham Goldfaden and considers it an honor to work with Folksbiene. For more info, visit www.adamshapiro.net