Tannoz Bahremand Foruzanfar became the first Persian woman to be ordained as a

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

in the United States in 2009. Foruzanfar was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

and moved to the United States when she was two. She now works at Stephen S. Wise Temple in California. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Education with an emphasis in Music from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, as well as cantorial ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in California. She appeared in ''From the Shtetl to Broadway'', a

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

musical review.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foruzanfar, Tannoz Bahremand Hazzans Women hazzans Iranian Jews American people of Iranian-Jewish descent People from Tehran Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Southern California alumni