Louis Danto

Danto was recognized for the "rare beauty and purity of his voice, its mastery, power and control, and for his breathtaking emotional expressivity."

After a performance at Carnegie Hall, Alan Rich of the New York Times wrote, "a voice of great beauty, clear and true — breathtaking, radiant, as though from another world."

George Jellinek, broadcaster and music critic for Stereo Review magazine (USA), wrote of Louis Danto: "No other tenor under contract to a major U.S. opera company today can duplicate such technique and overall control."

He caught the attention of world-renowned singers Beniamino Gigli and Tito Schipa, who heralded him as a major discovery in the tradition of the great bel canto tenors.

In December 1965, he chanted a special prayer at Tito Schipa's funeral in New York at the request of the family with leading singers from the Metropolitan Opera in attendance.

In September 1984, he sang before Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens to an inter-faith audience of 16,000 and millions of television viewers.

After his retirement from Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda in 1998, he was honoured with the title Cantor Emeritas and remained an important part of the synagogue.

The proposal included renovation of the Beth Emeth library as well as the construction of a stage and theatre seating 200, to permit performances of the great variety of Jewish music in his collection.

The collection has been praised by a number of experts, including Professor Edwin Seroussi, the Emmanuel Alexandre Professor of Musicology and Director of Jewish Music Research Centre of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Dr Eliott Kahn, who has been the Music Archivist at the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary for over 12 years.