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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Daniel Pearl Education Center plans day of words and music

East Brunswick nonprofit to host teacher workshop and concert on Oct. 16

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East Brunswick, October 6, 2008 – The Daniel Pearl Education Center is planning to turn words into action and music into inspiration with two unique programs on Thursday, Oct. 16 in East Brunswick.

The East Brunswick-based nonprofit, affiliated with Temple B’nai Shalom, will start the special day with a teacher workshop to help area teachers – from public, private, religious and national origin schools – learn how to teach about genocide, bias, prejudice and bigotry. The workshop is being co-sponsored by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, with support from the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers University, St. Bartholomew School of East Brunswick and the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County.

The free workshop, held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Temple B’nai Shalom, Fern and Old Stage Roads, East Brunswick, will feature presentations and panel discussions. Dr. Paul B.Winkler, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, will be on hand to provide opening remarks and to share his experiences. Among the highlights will be the showing of “Delicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee Bean,” an inspirational video that tells of the cooperative efforts of Muslim, Christian and Jewish farmers in Uganda. The program will also feature a presentation by Robin Parker, president of Beyond Diversity and formerly New Jersey’s Chief of the Office of Bias Crime and Community Relations, who will focus on ways to help communities to change the nature and quality of interactions among persons who are different from each other. Lunch will be served and educational materials will be provided, and the workshop will provide 5 professional development hours. Interested teachers may register at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and may get more information by calling 609-292-9274.

In the evening, the Daniel Pearl Education Center will host its fourth annual free concert in support of Daniel Pearl World Music Days, a a global network of concerts intended to help spread a message of hope, unity and "Harmony for Humanity." Since World Music Days' inception, more than 2,000 concerts in 77 countries have been dedicated in memory of Daniel Pearl, The Wall Street Journal reporter murdered by extremists in Pakistan shortly after 9/11. Pearl was a talented musician who believed in the power of music to bridge differences and unite people around their shared humanity.

This year’s music program, which is free to the community and begins at 8 p.m., will feature two unique presentations: a performance by the PEP Boys, a group of professional musicians performing tunes from the Big Band Era, and David Schneck and William Helms, noted area musicians who will present a performance of “Travels,” a piece by David Amram, an renowned American composer. The PEP Boys will start the evening, following welcomes by Daniel Pearl Education Center and Temple B’nai Shalom officials. The PEP Boys all performed previously with the Ponds Band of Monroe, and some of the musicians even played with Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine and others. David Schneck and Warren Helms will perform “Travels” by David Amram. The choice of David Amram’s “Traveks” is intended to emphasize the Daniel Pearl Education Center’s commitment to understanding and coexistence, since the three-movement piece highlights American Indian music, Jazz and and traditional Middle Eastern melodies. Mr. Schneck has had a varied career as a performer, as Principal Trumpet in the Westchester Symphony Orchestra for ten years, performed with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Royal, Stuttgart, Australian Ballet Companies, the Paris Opera, all at the Metropolitan Opera House, in Broadway Shows, recorded with Nino Rota, the Fania Allstars, and has been in orchestras backing up The Yes, Mannheim Steamroller, the Three Irish Tenors, Frank Patterson, Shirley Bassey, Ben Vareen, Steve and Edie, and many others. He can be heard on Summit Records CDC 363 as soloist and a member of Hora Decima Brass, which also features first chair soloists from the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Helms is a faculty member of The Juilliard School at Lincoln Center NYC and also William Paterson University in Wayne New Jersey. He was a faculty member of The Manhattan School of Music for eleven years where he musical directed the American Musical Theatre Ensemble and was a member of the opera department where he was a coach/accompanist, assisting in the preparation of opera productions. Mr. Helms was assistant conductor/pianist for the Broadway production of Showboat at the Gershwin Theatre and has performed off-Broadway with such shows as Little Kit at the Vineyard Theatre. He recently performed with the Three Irish Tenors, Aretha Franklin as well as Clay Aiken. Cabaret experience includes The Rainbow Room, Russian Tea Room, Le Belle Epoque, Eighty-Eight’s, Danny’s Skylight, as well as The Garrick. He has performed at Weill Recital Hall and Carnegie Hall, as well as appearing in recitals across the United States. Mr. Helms was the Musical Director of the World Premier of Anyone Can… a ballet choreographed to the music of Stephen Sondheim. He was also the vocal coach and supplied musical preparation for the world premiere of the operatic comedy How To Make Love, by Lawrence and C.C. Widdoes, produced by Chevy Chase. He has collaborated with Drew University, Kean University and Westminster Choir College and is also the Director of Music at The Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Wayne, New Jersey.

“We’re so very excited about this special day,” said Dr. Andrew Boyarsky, chairman of the Daniel Pearl Education Center. “Joining in the worldwide celebration of Daniel Pearl World Music Days is always very important to us, since we were the first school-based center in the United States to commit itself to Danny’s ideals. But this year, we are doing something very special by teaching about tolerance and understanding during the day and then letting music, one of Danny’s great loves, raise our spirits in the evening.”

Temple Bnai Shalom’s Daniel Pearl Education Center was the first school-based center in the US dedicated to the ideals of the late Daniel Pearl, the highly-respected Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed by extremists in Pakistan while researching a story. Special DPEC activities include cultural and educational programs to promote understanding and cooperation, including an annual trip to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, for Temple B’nai Shalom’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah class and area houses of worship and youth groups.

More information on both programs is available by contacting the temple office at 732-251-4300.