Danny Maseng

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Don Tourliev "Danny" Maseng (Born 1950) is a multi-talented Israeli-born performer. An actor, singer and writer, Maseng is particularly well known as a composer of contemporary Jewish Liturgical music.

1 Biography
2 Theater, Music and Television Career
3 Jewish career
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Maseng was born in Tel Aviv, Israel to an American Jewish mother and a Norwegian-American Lutheran father who came to Israel to serve as a volunteer in the Air Force during Israel's War of Independence and later converted. He rose to stardom in Israel at a young age and was the star of one of the first TV shows in Israel. Maseng came to America in 1971^[1] to star on Broadway in the musical Only Fools are Sad under the patronage of Golda Meir.

After his Broadway run, Maseng remained in the States, living in several cities before becoming a practicing Buddhist and student of the late Dainin Katagiri Roshi in Minneapolis. He later found his way back to Judaism and became involved in Reform Judaism movement through the Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute, where he ran the Tiferet Arts program for eight years.

Maseng currently splits his time between New York City and Columbus, Ohio. He has three sons, Jonathan, Carmel and most importantly Jordan. He is also a recent grandfather.

[edit] Theater, Music and Television Career

Maseng directed and starred in several productions in Minneapolis, including Cold Storage and The Day they Shot John Lennon for the Genesis Theater; The Secret Rapture and Rat in the Skull with British Actor Richard Lumsden for the Theater Exchange; and the Minnesota Opera's production of Carousel (musical).

After returning to New York in the early 90's, Maseng had roles in the Circle Repertory Company's production of A Body of Water and starred as Da Costa in the revival of the Broadway Musical King of Schnorrers in Los Angeles at the then "Westwood" now Geffen Playhouse.

In 1995, Maseng debuted his critically acclaimed one man show Wasting Time with Harry Davidowitz at the John Houseman Theater off-broadway, where it enjoyed a long run and has since toured with it around the world.

Maseng has also released over a dozen albums and appeared as a guest star on numerous television shows including Law & Order, Wild Discovery and One Life to Live.

[edit] Jewish career

In addition to his performing and composing, Maseng has helped found and run the Steven Spielberg Theater Fellowships for the Foundation for Jewish Camping and also served as the Artistic Director of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in California. He is also the founding director of the Jewish Arts Institute, a program run out of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut.

For several years, Maseng served as the spiritual leader for Congregation Agudas Achim in Livingston Manor, New York. He currently serves as the Artist-In-Residence/Cantor for Temple Israel of Columbus in Ohio.

In 2007, Maseng was appointed the Patron Artist of the Jewish Institute of Cantorial Arts at the University of Potsdam in Germany, the first cantorial school in Germany since the Holocaust.^[2]

It was recently announced that on July 1, 2008, Maseng will be moving to Los Angeles, California where he will take over as the Cantor/Musical Director of Temple Israel of Hollywood.