Roslyn Jhunever Barak served Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, California in the position of senior cantor from 1987 to 2015. She earned a BA in music (vocal performance) from the Manhattan School of Music. As an opera singer, she appeared with the Santa Fe Opera, as well as other companies, and was the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors. From 1974 to 1977, Barak lived in Israel, where she married and had a son. During those years, she performed with the Israel National Opera, the Israel Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, as well as performing regularly in solo recitals and with other orchestras throughout the country. After returning to New York, she made the decision to pursue a career in the Reform Jewish cantorate. She earned an MSM (master of sacred music) at Hebrew Union College in New York and was ordained as cantor upon her graduation in 1986. She has toured Germany multiple times in conjunction with the release of her CD, The Jewish Soul. Cantor Barak has served on the faculty of the Academy of Jewish Religion in Los Angeles, on the boards of the American Conference of Cantors and the Cantors Assembly, and on the editorial committee for Mishkan Tefillah, the current Reform prayerbook. Her recording of Samuel Adler’s liturgical music is part of the Milken Archive of Jewish music. Her other recordings include Libi B’Ma’arav, A Sho’o in Gan Eden, and Hallel v’Zimrah. She received a master’s degree in clinical psychology in 1996, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Hebrew Union College in 2011. She teaches and coaches cantorial students in the United States, Israel, and Germany. In Spring 2017 her new recording, My Spirit Sings, was released.