Bio

Cantor Paula Pepperstone grew up in New Jersey singing in her synagogue’s children’s choir and reading Torah. Encouraged by her rabbi and cantor to attend the Jewish Theological Seminary’s H.L. Miller Cantorial School, she did so after graduating from Indiana University’s School of Music, and serving on the Hillel board and leading High Holiday services at IU.

​

After cantorial school, she and her family moved to Louisville, Kentucky where she was the cantor of Keneseth Israel. After six fulfilling years there, including three years on the Cantors Assembly's Executive Council, the five Pepperstones moved to Cleveland, Ohio where Cantor Pepperstone focused on pedagogy. The Pepperstones spent nine years in Syracuse, New York. While there, she worked side-by-side with her husband (a rabbi) at Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas, was the Director of the Rabbi Jacob H. Epstein High School of Jewish Studies, and taught in the Syracuse Community Hebrew School. Her community work there spanned serving on the Syracuse Jewish Family Services/Group Residence Board and on the Education Committee at the Syracuse Hebrew Day School to co-founding a monthly Jewish chant group.

​

In 2020, Cantor Pepperstone and her family moved to Wichita, Kansas, where she is the cantor for Congregation Ahavath Achim - Hebrew Congregation, and her husband is the rabbi. The Pepperstones have discovered the warmth of this community and the beauty of the Plains.