Seymour Schwartzman (December 7, 1930 – January 18, 2009) was an American cantor and opera singer. He was a principal baritone at New York City Opera where he sang over thirty roles and also performed internationally in opera houses and on the concert stage. Among the synagogues where he served as cantor was the Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Biography Seymour Schwartzman was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son and grandson of cantors, and initially trained with his father. Following service in the US Army, he studied at the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College, while at the same time holding a full-time position as cantor at Temple Beth Emeth in Teaneck, New Jersey. After his graduation in 1953, he served as cantor for the Beth Israel Congregation in Providence, Rhode Island for three years until moving to Elkins Park, Pennsylvania where he took up an appointment as the first cantor to the newly built Beth Sholom Congregation For several years Schwartzman had also studied classical and musical theatre singing with Robert Weede and eventually received a scholarship to the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia where he studied under Dorothy di Scala. He made his operatic debut as Sonora in La fanciulla del West with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1964 and continued to sing in Philadelphia over the next two years both with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company and the Little Lyric Opera Company. In 1966 he was one of the four Winners of the American Opera Auditions as well as First Prize winner in the Illinois Opera Guild–WGN Auditions. The American Opera Auditions prize led to his Italian debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan as David in L'Amico Fritz that same year. For the next ten years, his primary career would be on the opera and concert stage. On November 12, 1965, Schwartzman made his debut with New York City Opera as Giorgio Germont in La traviata, and remained with the company until 1975, singing leading baritone roles including Lord Nottingham in Roberto Devereux, Scarpia in Tosca, Tonio in Pagliacci, Michele in Il tabarro, Lord Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor, Marcello in La bohème, Sharpless in Madame Butterfly, and the title role in Rigoletto. In 1968, he sang the role of John Sorel in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul at the Israel Music Festival in Tel Aviv, a role he