04/16/2024
Meet Chazzan Danny Maseng
I am thrilled to introduce Chazzan Danny Maseng (pronounced DAH NEE MAH SENG), who will become our new Cantor for our Shabbat Services and also our High Holy Day services starting in July.
Chazzan Maseng has had a distinguished career as a Cantor, both in NY and LA, and as a playwright, actor, singer, and composer. Above all, Chazzan Maseng has spent four decades traveling the world, inspiring, teaching, and rekindling the love of Judaism through Torah, Hassidut, Jewish culture, and the Arts.
Please join me in welcoming Chazzan Danny Maseng to Desert Outreach Synagogue!
About Chazzan Danny Maseng:
Born in Israel to American parents, Danny first came to the United States to star on Broadway in 'Only Fools Are Sad.' A playwright, actor, singer, and composer, Danny has served the National Endowment for the Arts as an opera and musical theater evaluator. He has been the Director of the Spielberg Fellowships at FJC, the Spiritual Leader of URJ congregation Agudas Achim in NY, the Artistic Director of The Brandeis-Bardin Institute, and the Cantor of Temple Israel of Hollywood in California. Danny is also the recently retired Chazzan and Spiritual Leader of Makom LA, a dynamic, post-denominational community in Los Angeles.
Three projects that have earned Danny accolades are his critically acclaimed off-Broadway musical 'Wasting Time with Harry Davidowitz' along with his 'Soul on Fire' and 'Let There Be Light' theatrical concerts.
Danny is one of the most popular and respected composers of contemporary liturgical and synagogue music. He has been an invited guest of the American Conference of Cantors, the Cantor's Assembly, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. His compositions are sung worldwide, most recently at Disney Hall in L.A. by the renowned Pink Martini and at Carnegie Hall by the New York City Youth Chorus.
Danny has been the Patron Artist of the Avraham Geiger School for Cantorial Arts in Berlin, Germany. His essays, writings, and poems have been included in books by leading Jewish scholars, including Rabbis Larry Hoffman, Kerry Olitzky, and Jeff Salkin. Danny has been featured in a number of documentary films, including the popular 'Hava Nagila' and 'The Other Men in Black.'
Danny has had a long and celebrated career on television (Law and Order/One Life to Live), Broadway, and film. He has written three books and recently completed an oratorio about the poet Paul Celan. He has been a faculty member for major organizations, including Limmud, JCM, The URJ, and The Wexner Heritage Foundation, and he is deeply involved in interfaith dialogue.
A much sought-after Scholar/Artist-in-Residence, Danny has spent four decades traveling the world, inspiring, teaching, and rekindling the love of Judaism through Torah, Hassidut, Jewish culture, and the Arts.
Chazzan Maseng- Welcome to your new home in the desert.
With immense gratitude,
Rabbi Jules
