About Lisa Levens

Lisa’s Musical Life

Lisa learned to play guitar and sing harmony at a young age, taught by her mother, Carrie Landy Levens who said that Lisa sang before she talked. One of Lisa’s strongest musical influences came from listening to Theodore Bikel sing Hebrew folksongs. She loved his dynamic delivery and guttural pronunciation. In her teens she took private voice lessons at the New England Conservatory of Music. In high school, Lisa became the youngest member and soloist for the Zamir Chorale of Boston, a touring Jewish choir that is still active and vibrant today and specializes in classical and Jewish liturgical works, folksongs and melodies from Eastern Europe, Spain and the Middle East. Lisa travelled to Israel in 1973 with Zamir to compete in the 8th annual Zimria (Choral Competition) with Jewish choirs from around the world. She sang with Zamir on and off over the years.

Lisa became the lead vocalist for The Kadima Band in the mid 90s, a six-person Jewish general business band from Boston, MA. Kadima performed at weddings, B’nai Mitzvah, and community events.

Lisa was a guest performer for a Yiddish songs program presented by the Kenya Hora band at KlezFest in DeWitt, NY. She was a guest soloist for the Zamir Chorale of Boston when they came to perform at Temple Adath Yeshurun in Syracuse in 2012. Lisa co-founded and facilitated a Jewish chant circle she called “Let’s Give it Up to Chants” before and during the COVID pandemic, and recorded an original song to the tune of “BaShanah HaBa’ah” about the experience of having to attend services on zoom that appears on her YouTube channel. Lisa looks foward to travelling to other Jewish Communities around the US to share her music.

Lisa’s Jewish Life:

As a child, Lisa’s family was active in Temple Beth Shalom, a Conservative Jewish synagogue in Roslyn Heights, NY. As an adult, she taught Music to Hebrew School classes in the 1980s at Temple Ohabei Shalom, and Temple Sinai, both Reform synagogues in Brookline, MA, and at Temple Shirat Hayam, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Duxbury, MA in the late 1990s.

Since 2007, Lisa has been a service leader at Congregation Beth Sholom–Chevra Shas (CBS-CS), a lay led Conservative synagogue in DeWitt, NY. Once-a-month throughout the year, Lisa leads Friday night Kabbalat and Ma’ariv services known as “Shirat Shabbat with Lisa Levens.” For the past five years, she has also served as Cantor Sheini for High Holiday Services at CBS-CS.

Lisa’s Professional Life:

Lisa earned a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She began her professional career as a Paste-up Artist, advanced to a Graphic Artist and then became a freelance Graphic Designer and Art Director. She then worked as a Senior Art Director for JWG in Boston producing recruitment advertising for
local and national companies.

Since 2014, Lisa has served as an in-house Graphic Designer for Congregation Beth Sholom – Chevra Shas, creating custom logos, event posters and programs, bookplates, congregational holiday cards, promotional materials, as well as webpage banners.

Lisa continues to do freelance graphic design projects for individuals and businesses in the Syracuse area.

Lisa’s Personal Life:

Lisa was born in Boston, MA to Carolyn “Carrie” Landy Levens and Edward Levens. Her family lived near Boston, and in Queens and Roslyn Heights, NY. Lisa was married, and raised three children, two of whom she adopted with her wife Jean. Lisa and Jean lived in suburban Boston and Kingston, MA and on a farm in Upstate, NY where she cared for horses, dogs, cats, a garden and a flock of egg-bearing chickens. Lisa now lives in the City of Syracuse in a cozy cottage with her Life Partner, Barrie Gewanter.