Newton Elana Rozenfeld tries out her voice at the Lilypad in Cambridge

Elana Rozenfeld can’t recall a time when she wasn’t enthralled by music. She’s always loved it, been moved by it. As a young child, growing up in Scarsdale, New York, her parents would put music on to help her get to sleep. In school, she would sing in the choir. But she couldn’t do it alone.

“I was very shy,” she said by phone from her home in Newton. “I could only sing in groups. I didn’t sing by myself until my bat mitzvah ... because then I had to (laughs).”

Since those days, Rozenfeld has gone on to temper that shyness. She listened to a steady diet of Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone (and later Nirvana and R.E.M.); she studied theater at the Tisch School of the Arts, usually playing character roles; she took part in the school’s Playwrights Horizons program; she moved into performing movement-based solo pieces that had no talking. But the last piece she did, titled “Chassidic Tendencies,” ended with her singing, alone.

A lot of life-changing ground has been covered by her between then and now, all leading up to her first appearance at the Lilypad in Cambridge on June 30 where, backed by a trio, she’ll present a show ranging from what she calls “prayer music” to jazz standards.

Let’s backtrack a bit.

While still at Tisch, Rozenfeld was taking voice lessons and was pleased with the way her voice was developing. But she realized that theater wasn’t the path she wanted to follow. For various reasons, including growing up as a moderately observant Jewish woman who later turned away from it, then even later came back into the fold, she decided to attend the Jewish Theological Seminary. Her goal was to become a cantor, a spiritual leader who works with music.

Her cantorial education included some studying in Israel, followed by regular classes back at the seminary, then a return to Israel to take a summer course in the Yiddish language.

“I was also introduced to Yiddish music there,” she said. “After I came home, I bought some Yiddish folk music books, and I sat there with my guitar and went through the music. I eventually felt that Yiddish music was my other tongue.”

Rozenfeld landed a job right out of college, as the second cantor at New York’s Park Avenue Synagogue, knowing that it was only to be an interim post.

“I was there for two years, and when it was ending, I was looking for another job,” she said. “I found one as a cantor at Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott, so my husband and I moved to Massachusetts.”

She held the position there for seven years, introducing all sorts of non-traditional approaches to being a cantor, including making use of that Yiddish folk music, as well as some jazz and rock, with the aid of a “house band” she assembled.

When, last year, she felt it was time to try something else, Rozenfeld opted to become a freelance cantor – she’s currently an artist in residence at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Brookline – and to focus more on music.

“I decided I wanted to gig,” she said. “I know so many incredible musicians that I hired over the years when I was in Swampscott. So, I just booked the Lilypad on my own and decided to throw myself into it.”

Although she usually plays guitar when she sings, she’s planning to do this one “hands free, though I might bring the guitar along for a song or two.”

She’ll be accompanied by Lautaro Mantilla on guitar, Max Ridley on bass, and Yair Amster on drums and percussion.

“I’m exploring new territory,” she said when asked what will be on the program. “I’m sure I’ll sing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’ and I’m going to be trying to do what I can’t do in a synagogue, with both sacred and secular music. Ultimately, we do prayers with music. We use music to help people look inward, to reach a higher place. I want to see how that changes in a music venue rather than in a synagogue.”

Elana Rozenfeld and her trio are at the Lilypad in Cambridge on June 30 at 7:15 p.m. Tickets: $10. Info: www.lilypadinman.com.

Upcoming concerts and club dates

June 29:

Guitarist Chris Fitz leads his band in an evening of blues, funk, soul, jazz, and rock at Jasper Hill in Millis. (8 p.m.)

Fiddler Hanneke Cassel blends traditional Scottish and Cape Breton at Club Passim in Cambridge. (5 & 8 p.m.)

June 30:

Australian native and indie-roots singer-guitarist-storyteller Jordie Lane comes to Atwood’s Tavern in Cambridge. (9:30 p.m.)

July 1:

Asleep at the Wheel brings some swing and Texas soul to City Winery in Boston. (8 p.m.)

July 2:

Jackson Browne sings his country-folk-rock hits at Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion in Boston. (7:30 p.m.)

July 3:

Americana-roots rockers Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles play at Atwood’s Tavern in Cambridge. (10 p.m.)

Stringman extraordinaire David Bromberg comes to town with his quintet to perform at City Winery on Boston. (8 p.m.)

July 4:

Legendary folkies David Buskin & Robin Batteau return to Club Passim in Cambridge. (7 p.m.)

July 5:

The punk rock trio Potty Mouth will turn up the energy at Great Scott in Boston. Colleen Green opens. ((10:30 p.m.)

Boston-based folk rockers Modern Painters have an album release show for “City Folk” at Once in Somerville. (6 p.m.)

Ed Symkus writes about music and movies. He can be reached at esymkus@rcn.com.