About me:
Sierra Fox (she/her), mezzo-soprano, is a nationally and internationally regarded soloist and ensemble singer with a background in interfaith outreach. As a soloist and choral alto, Sierra has sung with a vast number of both sacred and secular choirs, while also touring throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. Primarily interested in singing as a tool of unification, Sierra has made a focus of music in the service of interconnectedness, bridging faith traditions, cultures, and otherwise distanced communities through song.
Sierra currently is honored to serve as the Cantorial Intern at Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan under the mentorship of Senior Cantor Azi Schwartz. She previously served as Student Cantor at Temple Emanuel of South Hills in Pittsburgh, PA from 2021-2023, with additional Student Cantor duties at Congregation Beth Yam in Hilton Head in the spring of 2022. In her first couple of years of Cantorial school on the NY campus, she tutored b’nei mitzvah students at East End Temple and Central Synagogue in New York, NY, as well as teaching Hebrew at Central Synagogue’s religious school. Sierra is honored to have received the prestigious Tisch-Star Fellowship, to learn from Rabbi Larry Hoffman and the other recipients of the fellowship. She served as the Secretary of the HUC-NY Student Association, was a member of and Tefilah Liaison for the Kallah Planning Committee, and served as a founding member of the Campus B’rit Committee.
Sierra attended Elkton High School in Elkton, MD, where she was Salutatorian. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and Religion and Society summa cum laude, Renee Crown Honors, from Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. At Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, Sierra completed graduate work toward a Master of Music in Voice Performance. At Widener University in Chester, PA, she began graduate work toward a Master of Social Work at Widener University before realizing her calling toward the Cantorate. In 2018, she began working as a cantorial soloist at Keneseth Israel with the support and guidance of Cantor Amy Levy, who encouraged her to explore her calling toward the cantorate and apply to the Cantorial Ordination program at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion.
Selected recent solo engagements include performing as alto soloist in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms at the International Cantors Assembly, and for Adlers’ Five Sephardic Choruses at the Kimmel Center, as a part of her annual engagement with the “Sing Hallelujah” concerts of Jewish music (organized by the Old York Road Kehillah). She has served as core singer/soloist with the Mendelssohn Choir of Philadelphia, staff singer at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul, cantor at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, and lead singer/percussionist for mythic folk band Soundweaver and interfaith Kirtan ensemble Mandala. Sierra has also sung professionally with numerous other choirs/organizations, including The Thirteen, Neva Pilgrim’s Society for New Music, Syracuse Opera Company, and the Philadelphia Chamber Choir.
