Cantor Anita Schubert grew up in Queens and Lynbrook, Long Island. She received her bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Rochester and a master’s degree in human nutrition at the University of Maryland. Having led services in junior congregation as a child, and coordinated those services as a teen, Cantor Schubert’s service leading continued to the late ’80’s, as women were able to enter that arena for the first time. After a few years of developing her cantorial skills, as well as teaching music and training b’nei mitzvah students for several local Hebrew schools, she felt that the cantorate was indeed the career she was meant to pursue.
Cantor Schubert did most of her cantorial and general music studies in the Washington, D.C. area. Between 1991 and 2001 she served several congregations—Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Reform–in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C; Ocean and Clifton, NJ; and Evanston, IL. Her work included leading services, teaching prayers and music in Hebrew & pre-schools, b’nei mitzvah training, adult education, and choral directing.
Since moving to South Florida in 2015 from Manchester, CT, where she was the cantor at Beth Sholom B’nei Israel for 14 years, she served Temple Beth Am in Margate and 3 congregations around the country as High Holy Days cantor. She also taught at The Neshamah Institute in Boca Raton. Cantor Schubert is a member of the Cantors Assembly and a past president of the Women Cantors’ Network (WCN).
Throughout her career, Cantor Schubert has arranged and composed Jewish music for congregational & choral singing as well as children’s prayers. In 2007 she produced a CD, D’vora Ud’vash, of some of her compositions with her volunteer choir. https://www.oysongs.
She was Commissioned by the WCN to compose a setting (solo and choral) of a text from a Kabbalat Shabbat psalm, Shiru Ladonai, which premiered in 2019 at the WCN conference.
Since 2015, Cantor Schubert has been a freelance music engraver (creating notation using computer programs). From 2018-19 she served as an engraver and co-editor of Kol Isha, an anthology of compositions by members of the WCN. https://womencantors.
Since 2019 she has been the Music Notation Editor of the project Jewish Feminist Songbook: Adding Our Voices http://www.
She lives in Boynton Beach with her Israeli-American husband—cabinetmaker and family chef Reuven Perry. Most of their children and grandchildren live locally, recent transplants from Long Island.
