Meet our Cantor
Cantor Cory Winter
Cantor Cory Winter joined the staff at Temple Beth Shalom in July, 2026.
He served Congregation BJBE in Deerfield, IL, for 13 years and was made Cantor Emeritus. During this time he established the BJBE Philharmonic - a multi-generational orchestra and the BJBE Overnight Choir- a choral group singing periodically with just one rehearsal the night before Friday night services.
He compiled an Erev Shabbat siddur - Keshet T'filah, A Rainbow of Prayers, This new prayer book is gender-sensitive, fully transliterated, and contains versions of prayers from three branches of Judaism - Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist.
Teaching is Cantor Winter's greatest love. He has taught Adult Education classes in Reading Hebrew and Torah chant. His main focus was the BJBE B'nai Mitzvah Program, which in its thoroughness made it unique among Reform synagogues in the country.
Cantor Winter, a native of Chicago, received his Bachelor's Degree in Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Master's Degree in Music from Northwestern University, where he was assistant to Margaret Hillis, the renowned conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. He studied voice with Metropolitan Opera tenor Jess Thomas. He was Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor of the Sacramento Opera for ten years.
Cantor Winter studied Chazanut with Max Janowski and Todros Greenberg. During his career, he has served both Reform and Conservative synagogues and seeks to combine the best of both traditions in his chanting. He founded and conducted the Bay Area Jewish Chorale for the Northern California Board of Cantors, of which he is a Past President. He is a member of both the American Conference of Cantors and the Cantors Assembly.
As a soloist, Cantor Winter has appeared with several orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony with Sir Georg Solti, Carlo Maria Giulini, and James Levine and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra with Michael Tilson Thomas, Edo de Waart, and Christoph Eschenbach. He appeared as soloist with the Oakland-East Bay Symphony and Ars Nova in the Sacred Service by Ernest Bloch.