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Health & Fitness

Cabaret Performers Singing at Drew on Sunday

It was the golden age of the American songbook, with big bands playing swing and jazz music written by legendary composers including Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Richard Rogers. Swing bands led by Glen Miller and Tommy Dorsey cheered the public with their big brass sound, while American soldiers fought overseas.

On Oct. 20, award-winning cabaret and Broadway vocalists will bring to life music from the World War II era at a benefit concert for the Drew University Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study. The concert, “As Time Goes By: Music from 1933-1945” starts at 2 p.m. at Drew’s acoustically renowned concert hall in the Dorothy Young Center for the Arts in Madison.

Among the performers are Julie Reyburn, a 2011 Award Winner for Major Artist by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC); Brian Farley, a Bistro-award-winning vocalist; Lisa Asher, recipient of a New York Nightlife Award, a MAC Award and Back Stage Bistro Award; and Rob Maitner, an award-winning actor and vocalist.

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The ticket price is $75 and includes attendance at a reception with the performers after the concert. The program has been underwritten by the David M. Gurland Memorial Music Fund, set up by Evelyn & Gerald Gurland in memory of their son, David, who had been a prominent cabaret performer.

Gerry Gurland, coordinator of Center Exhibits for Drew’s Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study, is also an architect who helped design and construct the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He said he hopes the Drew concert shows that while World War II was going on, the atrocities in Europe could not crush the human spirit.

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“While all this terror was going on, people continued to sing and perform,” he said. “I didn’t want the music of the ghettos or the camps. I wanted to reflect the popular music. In times of great stress and great sorrow, humankind rises up. This is a positive thing.”
Also poignant about this fundraiser is that David Gurland’s partner, Rob Maitner, is performing.

All proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Drew University Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study, whose mission is to commemorate those who perished in the Holocaust; celebrate those who survived; educate upcoming generations and support ongoing research and scholarship.

All events are open to the public.

For more information about the benefit concert or the center, call 973-408-3600, send an email to ctrholst@drew.edu, or check the center’s website: drew.edu/chs.

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