When The Jewish Center celebrates Murray E. Simon’s 10th anniversary as cantor of the congregation on Sunday, March 18, it will be celebrating, above all, Simon’s talent for encouraging people to participate at services, said Mark Killingsworth.

“People really now do get involved — singing the prayers, reading Torah, doing the haftara,” said Killingsworth, who is cochairing the event with Lori Feldstein. “It really binds people together, and it makes a community in a way that really matters.”

The afternoon of song and celebration in Simon’s honor will begin at 3 p.m. at the synagogue on Nassau Street in Princeton. The event will feature performances of traditional and popular melodies by Simon and soprano Meredith Greenberg, a student of his at the Academy of Jewish Religion in New York who currently serves as a cantorial intern at Temple Sinai of Bergen County in Tenafly. Pianist Mark Toback will be the accompanist.

The event will also showcase the talents of the Robyn Helzner Trio of Washington, DC, an ensemble that specializes in modern Israeli melodies, Eastern European folk songs, Sephardi love songs, and contemporary American compositions. During a buffet reception after the concert, members of the seven-piece Witherspoon Street Traveling Medicine Show will perform.

“Although the congregation will certainly be honoring Cantor Simon, the program is intended to entertain and uplift everybody in the congregation,” Killingsworth said. “That’s very much a reflection of who he is and what he does.”

For Simon, the centerpiece of the concert will be a klezmer-style melody sung by a group of youngsters who have been his students during his years at The Jewish Center.

“I just want to surround myself with youngsters, which is sort of a summary of what I consider my contribution to be, which is touching the lives of people, especially young people,” the cantor said during a phone interview.

Simon said he sees the 10th anniversary celebration as a significant milestone, not only in his cantorial career, but also in his relationship with The Jewish Center and the Princeton community.

“It’s something so very, very special to me in terms of the friendships I’ve forged and the lives I’ve touched,” he said. “I look forward to the future and to continuing to make a difference in people’s lives.”

A native of Philadelphia, Simon holds a bachelor’s degree in musical performance from Temple University, as well as a cantorial certificate and a bachelor of sacred music degree, cum laude, from the Hebrew Union College-School of Sacred Music in New York. He also has a master of music degree in voice from the Boston Conservatory of Music and an honorary doctor of music degree from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

A member of the faculty of the Academy for Jewish Religion, Simon has lectured in Jewish music and liturgy at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., and Hebrew College in Brookline, Mass.

A member of the National Executive Council of the Cantors Assembly of America, Simon has served as vice president of communal affairs for the Princeton Clergy Association and as president of the Cantorial Alumni Association of Hebrew Union College, the American Conference of Cantors, and the New England Jewish Music Forum.

He recently produced and premiered a groundbreaking, two-disc DVD set, Great Cantors of the Golden Age and Great Cantors in Cinema.

Just as Simon’s DVD celebrates the great cantors of the last century, said Rabbi Adam Feldman of The Jewish Center, the congregation is glad to be able to celebrate the contributions of a great cantor of this one.

“This is an opportunity for us to celebrate our relationship with the cantor and to highlight his musical talents and his teaching ability,” Feldman said. “He has a real love of Jewish music and a talent for teaching and demonstrating the great history of Jewish music, liturgical and non-liturgical.

“The best part about Cantor Simon is his menschlichkeit,” the rabbi added. “He’s a real mensch in every way.”

The Arts and Cultural Committee of The Jewish Center is coordinating the 10th anniversary celebration. Tickets cost $40 for adults and $20 for children. The reservation deadline is March 14. For information, call Nancy Lewis at the synagogue, 609-921-0100.