Shimon Farkas OAM^[1] is a cantor, singer, and performer born in Hungary, and living in Australia. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2008.^[1] He has served as Chief Cantor at The Central Synagogue of Sydney for over five decades, from 1971 to the present (with a ten-year hiatus).^[2]

Farkas was born in Fehergyarmat, Hungary in 1949 to Holocaust survivors, Chaim Meir Farkas and Faigu Weiss. During the war, his parents survived the camps and married in Fehergyarmat after their liberation. Three of his grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944, and the fourth died prior to the war. His father was one of 5 of 8 siblings who survived the Holocaust. On his mother's side, both parents, and their three children perished in Auschwitz. Farkas moved to Israel in 1951, and led a service on Friday evening at the Rama Synagogue in Tel Aviv at age 9.^[2][3]

Farkas and his mother immigrated to the United States in the fall of 1961, after his father's death. They lived in the Borough Park neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York. For his musical training, he studied privately under world-renowned Cantor Moshe Kusevitsky and was appointed lead soloist in Kusevitsky's choir. Kusevitsky was cantor at Temple Beth El of Borough Park which later merged into Young Israel Beth El of Borough Park.

Farkas was first posted as cantor at the Orthodox Shaarei Shomayim synagogue in 1967 for the High Holidays in Windsor, Ontario.

Farkas led High Holiday services for an Orthodox congregation in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1969 and 1970. During that time, while attending Yeshiva University in New York, he enrolled as an exchange student at Bar Iian University in Israel where he studied under Cantor David Bagley. In Israel, he met Veronica Weisz, who was studying at Machon Gold in Jerusalem. The two were married and relocated to her hometown in Sydney, Australia.^[2][3]

The following year at age 22, he was appointed and served as cantor at The Central Synagogue of Sydney for 15 years. In 1987, he was engaged by the Concord Resort Hotel in the Catskills (NY), to conduct Passover and High Holyday services, where it was noted that he filled the venue to capacity.^[3]

After the success of his performances at the Concord during each Passover and High Holidays, Farkas recorded an album called "Voices of the Concord" accompanied by the Concord Symphonic Chorale, making his debut as a composer. Writing for The Australian Jewish News, David Brown reviewed the album and wrote "In a world where the art of the cantor is hardly flourishing, Farkas keeps the cantorial flag flying proudly. He also makes his debut here as a composer of some distinction in a beautifully sculptured Hin’ni, always one of his best pieces; his intimate communing with the Almighty here is a tour de force, and no less so is Hashkivenu, also a Farkas composition. The touch of baritonal and moving parts of the Yamim Noraim has always been the Un’saneh Tokef. Here in a difficult but totally cohesive arrangement by Naftali Herstik and Raymond Goldstein Farkas shows off, as he does throughout, his impeccable chazanut and mellow timbre. The touch of baritonal core makes his voice especially attractive." A record of the songs from "Voices of the Concord" are kept at the Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive.^[4][5][3]

In 1994, the synagogue in Sydney was damaged by fire. Farkas played a role in fundraising for the rebuilding of the synagogue and returned to his current position as Chief Cantor, when the Central Synagogue was rededicated in 1998.^[6]

Farkas continues to perform and has built up a notable repertoire over the course of his career, singing in seven languages, and including Broadway favorites. He performs primarily between the United States, Israel, Europe and Australia. He has appeared with Marvin Hamlisch, conducting the Calgary Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney International Orchestra when Farkas produced a concert in 2008, titled "From Broadway to Jerusalem" at the same synagogue where he served as cantor for decades, The Central Synagogue of Sydney. In the following years, Farkas and his son, Dov produced a series of gala concerts in Melbourne and Sydney called "Symphony for the Soul: A Salute to Israel," with Dr. Mordechai Sobol as conductor.^[2][3]

Shimon and Veronica have three children, Chaim, Mimi, and Dov. both sons have followed in their father's footsteps with notable performances and recordings with their father and on their own.^[7][8]

Dov Farkas has an extensive experience in serving as a Cantor for various Synagogues in Australia. He started his journey as a Cantor at the South Head Synagogue in Sydney and served there for eight years. Later, he moved to the Chabad House of Caulfield - 770 in Melbourne and served as a Cantor for five years. In 2008, he was appointed as the Chief Cantor of the Caulfield Hebrew Congregation, one of the largest Synagogues in Australia based in Melbourne.^[9][10]

Chaim Farkas is President of the congregation Ichud Shivat Tzion, in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he also leads services. The congregation has a significant history as the primary center for German Jewish survivors in the city. In recent years, the synagogue faced a decline in membership and attendance. However, Chaim Farkas's efforts have helped revitalize the synagogue. The synagogue follows modern orthodox practices and aims to foster a unique relationship between the religious and secular worlds in Tel Aviv.^[11][12]

Farkas's granddaughter, Eden Shifroni, a soprano, has completed her Bachelor of Music (Classical Performance) and Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.^[13] Noted as an emerging talent, Eden spoke about growing up, "watching her grandfather Shimon Farkas sing as the chazzan at Sydney’s Central Synagogue," she told The AJN. “I definitely think my passion for music was ignited at a very young age.” Like her grandfather, Shifroni performs in multiple languages, and mentions that she connects to her heritage everywhere she performs.^[14][15][2]

Farkas has participated numerous times in the March of the Living in Auschwitz-Birkenau on Holocaust Remembrance Day. At the March of the Living, he chanted the El Malei Rachamim, the traditional Jewish memorial prayer, for the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. With his two sons, Dov & Chaim, they performed Szól a Kakas Már, a Hungarian Jewish folk song composed by the Rabbi of Kalev (1751– 1821), expressing a deep yearning for the redemption of the Jewish people and their return to the land of Israel. Farkas has contributed significantly to the International March of the Living by raising funds to support more student participation.^[2] One member of the Australian delegation commented that "Shimon is perhaps the only human being who has the capability to convey and transmit the suffering of our people in the middle of the 20th century in an all-but-experiential manner."^[16][17]

Attending with the Australian delegation, was Frank Lowy, Holocaust survivor and philanthropist, and friend of Shimon Farkas, who witnessed the Farkas family performance in 2013. At the ceremony, Lowy spoke about the circumstances of his father, Hugo Lowy's murder in Auschwitz.^[18][19] Shimon Farkas also sang at the 2014 March of the Living bringing with him Leonardo Farkas who has since become a major benefactor of the March of the Living.

Before attending the 2024 March of the Living in Poland, Cantor Farkas and his family will attend a special March in Budapest, Hungary, commemorating 80 years since the destruction of Hungarian Jewry in the spring of 1944 during the Holocaust.^[20]

Cantor Farkas and his two sons will be leading the program in Budapest. "We will sing Jewish melodies in the very places where so many of our beloved ancestors – including three of my grandparents – were sent to their deaths 80 years ago", said Farkas. "And our message will be loud and clear: Hitler, you did not win, and you will never win! Am Yisrael Chai (The People of Israel Live!)"'^[20]

• 2008 Australia Day Honours
• March of the Living