Hazzan Rob Menes
Who I am and Where I'm going
Update:
Eight years ago I was living in Victoria, B.C. , working as an engineer for the government, wondering what was next. So this is what's next: I am a cantor for a synagogue in Kansas. I have a Masters degree in Sacred Music and spend my days consumed with the things I love - my family, my Judaism, my music. Life is not without its stresses, but it is good. It is very good.
It is often valuable (contrary to modern literary criticism) to know something about the author/patron/producer of art or information to place it in context, and, perhaps, fill in what may be missing. The text, what you see, is only an index, a reminder, a clue to a much larger world. Dress it up as much as you like, we are just comedians shouting out the number of the joke.
I was born in New York City, lived there for a while, grew up on Long Island, went to school upstate, went overseas with the Peace Corps, and settled in Victoria, British Columbia. I am married, have two kids, a job with which I am disillusioned, and a religion I love. I am an agricultural engineer, the Director of the Resource Planning Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, but what I do is sing.
I sing all the time; it is not a matter of being happy or sad. I sing because that is how I let my heartfelt emotions out.
I am Jewish. I was Bar Mitzvah at North Shore Synagogue on Long Island, a reform synagogue. I am now a member of Congregation Emanu-El, a conservative synagogue. After 25 years of spiritual coasting, I have rediscovered what I never knew. My goal is to integrate my life: to link my music, religion, and family together. And, if possible, to include my job in the mix as well.
I have always enjoyed mathematics and physics, and I continue to have a small consulting company specializing in statistics and numerical analysis (Nabla Environmental Research). However, after spending a couple of years in Cameroon, I realized that a little knowledge of agriculture could go further towards helping people than becoming a solid-state physician or quantum mechanic. I got a M.Sc. in agricultural engineering (Cornell), soil and water, with the idea that I would be working on the ground with the ground. Instead, after evading computers for my entire undergraduate degree in physics, I was seduced into the world of computer modelling. As a consulting engineer and manager of a research and development company, I dwelled in modelling. I subsequently owned an instrument manufacturing company. Three years later, I was in charge of Geographic Information Systems for one branch of government. I moved back to agriculture - finally - to lead the resource planning branch. Although responsible for resource inventory, my main focus is on resource policy (including aboriginal issues).
I have been singing for a long time and have, at times, had thoughts of making it my career. In high school I entertained thoughts of studying saxophone further. Singing in high school with the John F. Kennedy H.S. Choir turned me towards singing. I continued with the Cornell University Men's Glee Club.
Vocal Experience
Technical Work Experience