Making Music

Three generations of the Benyas family take the
stage in Chicago.

ELECT JOHN
E. REEVES ✓

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH

FOR TREASURER
of SOUTHFIELD

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Life Member, NAACP

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Member, Southfield City Council and Finance Committee

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Architect, Southfield Business Development Team
resulting in increased economic growth

DIANA LIEBERMAN
Copy Editor

.II

Made the Star Theatre a reality

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Bridge between Southfield School District and the
Southfield City Government

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Strong Neighborhood advocate

n a career spanning 50 years,
Detroit-area actress and singer
Shirley Benyas of West
Bloomfield has played many
roles, in works ranging from the musical
My Fair Lady to the film Zebrahead.
But, on Oct. 7, she appeared on stage
for the first time with two members of
her own family. They performed at the
premiere of Shoah: A Kaddish for the
Victims of the Holocaust by Scott Hines.
Leading the Chicago Chamber
Orchestra was her son, associate conduc-
tor Edward Benyas. Granddaughter
Dana Benyas, 9, of Huntington Woods,
joined her grandmother in narrating the
piece.
They performed for an audience of
about 400 at the Chicago Cultural
Center's Preston Bradley Hall.
"Working with Dana is such a thrill,"
said Shirley Benyas. "She was so serious,
and took direction so well."
Dana, daughter of Dorothy and
Mark Benyas, said performing with her

Endorsed By:

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UAW

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AFSCME council 25, AFL-CIO

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Oakland County Political Action Group

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Leonard P. Baruch

Education:

Bachelor Degree, Wayne State University,
Harvard Business School

10/26

2001

38

CoMposer Scott Hines,
. Dana Benyas and Shirley
Benyas after the Oct. 7
premiere of Shoah: A .
K.addish for the Victims of
the Holocaust.

Paid for the Committee to Elect John E. Reeves
Labor Donated

I

bubbie felt "really, really good."
A student at Burton Elementary' .
School in Huntington Woods, she said
she was nowhere near as nervous as she
thought she'd be.
"I'd like to keep performing, but not
travel across the country — I didn't like
the six-hour drive to Chicago," Dana
said.
Shoah was inspired by the Nazi-era
Jewish composers and musicians who
continued performing and composing
while in concentration camps. Among
the works quoted in the narration is
poetry written by the children of Ghetto
Theresienstadt.
Composer Hines dedicated the corn-
position to Shirley Benyas, who helped
him do research for the piece and who
works to incorporate Holocaust-related
songs or readings when she performs.
"She keeps the flame of memory alive
so that we can never forget this horren-
dous period in human history and so
that others might avoid such suffering,"
he wrote in the program notes for the
premiere. ❑

