Shmuel Barzilai

Shmuel Barzilai was born in 1957 in Jerusalem

Shmuel Barzilai was born in Jerusalem on 3 June 1957 and grew up there in a family belonging to the Modzitz Hasidic court. His father, Shlomo Barzilai, was also a cantor, and he is a great-grandson of cantor Yaakov Eisenbach. He grew up in a musical home with cantorial and Jewish music.

He studied at the Be'er Yaakov, Kfar Hasidim and Hebron yeshivas. After his marriage, worshippers at his synagogue in Bnei Brak asked him to lead prayers, and he decided to study cantorial art. He trained at the Tel Aviv institute for cantorial art under teachers including Moshe Stern, and later earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Jewish studies at the University of Vienna.

After his training he led holiday services in Kfar Vitkin, Ramat Gan, Romania and Florida. In 1992, after a cantorial concert in Vienna with Moshe Stern, he was offered the post of chief cantor of the Vienna Jewish community. He tours in Europe and has performed with orchestras such as the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 2000 he sang at a memorial event at the Mauthausen camp with the Vienna Philharmonic before about 8000 people. In July 2017 the Austrian culture minister presented him with Austria's gold medal.