Student Cantor Hamstra joined the TSTI community just in time for lockdown, meaning few of us have met her in person. Because she is playing such an important role in our congregation, we thought you might appreciate learning a little bit more about the person behind the beautiful voice.

Student Cantor Hamstra grew up in Santa Cruz, CA in a very musical household.  She is the daughter of folk musicians and bagel bakers, born to a legacy of what she believes are the only proper, New York-style bagels on the West Coast (not that she’s biased). 

She grew up playing violin, dancing, singing in choirs, doing theater, singing and playing chamber music, and effectively participating in every aspect of the performing arts that she possibly could.  Any time that she didn’t spend on the arts, she spent at the beach or hiking in the redwoods.  She eventually found her way to The Boston Conservatory for her Bachelor’s Degree and then San Francisco Conservatory of Music for her Master’s Degree, both in classical voice performance, and spent several years as a freelance opera singer. 

Eventually, however, Student Cantor Hamstra found that life as a classical singer was unfulfilling for her spiritually, and decided to apply to HUC-JIR where she is now in her fourth year of her cantorial studies. Before TSTI, she served as a cantorial soloist at Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco, cantorial intern at Kehillat YOZMA in Modi’in, Israel, and for the last two years served as the student cantor at Temple B’nai Chaim in Georgetown, CT. 

When asked how she felt about TSTI, she said, “I am thrilled and honored to be the newest member of the clergy team at TSTI, and I cannot wait to get to know this amazing community more deeply and to share prayer, Torah, and the work of Tikkun Olam, repairing our world, with all of you!”