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Daniel Mutlu

Senior Cantor

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Cantor Daniel Mutlu was called to serve as Senior Cantor of Central Synagogue in 2017. Cantor Mutlu is a first-generation American born to Turkish Jewish parents. Raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, Cantor Mutlu attended the Yeshiva Academy Achei Tmimim where he forged a strong Jewish identity and a broad religious perspective. Cantor Mutlu went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 2001. After serving as a cantorial soloist at Temple Emanuel of Worcester, Massachusetts, Cantor Mutlu pursued a master’s degree in sacred music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. Upon ordination in 2008 he served as Cantor of Community Synagogue of Rye, New York, until 2011. He was then honored to serve as Cantor of Congregation Beth Israel of Houston, Texas, from 2011 to 2017. In Houston, Cantor Mutlu served on the board of the Anti-Defamation League Southwest Region, where he worked with their interfaith committee.

In 2011 Cantor Mutlu joined the faculty of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music where he teaches in the Cantorial Ordination Program. He has also taught a variety of classes in the Cantorial Certification Program.

Cantor Mutlu has performed with many premier musical ensembles including the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Ars Lyrica, Houston Bach Society, Alarm Will Sound, and Park East Synagogue Choir. As a member of NYC’s The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, he earned two glowing musical reviews from the New York Times. Cantor Mutlu can be heard as tenor soloist on Naxos’ eight-disc set The Complete Haydn Masses as well as on Navona Records’ Requiem: For the Living. He was a featured soloist on Musica Omnia and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street’s release Handel: Israel in Egypt, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2013. Since 2019, Mutlu has been touring internationally as the main cantorial soloist for the Night Holocaust Project. His recent performances in Russia, Lithuania, and Germany have been nationally televised and future performances have been planned for Latvia and England. Cantor Mutlu walked the red carpet at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival where “The Song of Names,” a movie featuring his first role in film, was screened and enthusiastically received. Mutlu is also featured in the documentary, “A Cantor’s Head.”

Cantor Mutlu proudly represented Central Synagogue at the 2019 URJ Biennial in Chicago where he led Friday evening Shabbat services for nearly 5,000 worshippers.

Cantor Dan joins the Central family with his wife Nina and their three children.