Cohen and Barrad Headline Firestone Tribute at Goldrich Center

The Goldrich Cultural Center will present the world premiere of "It's Now or Never: Songs of Hope and Resilience" on Nov. 4 and 5, 2026, in Los Angeles. Grammy-winning countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and baritone-cantor Simon Barrad will headline. Both evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m., and the venue will host additional daytime performances for students.

What does the program trace?

The musical follows Holocaust survivor Renée Firestone from pre-war Europe through the camps to her years in America, where she built a career as a fashion designer and became a public advocate for Holocaust education and remembrance. The repertoire draws across genres to frame her story:

• Works by composers murdered at Auschwitz
• Yiddish songs
• German lieder
• Jazz selections
• Musical theater pieces

The genre mix maps the cultural geography of Firestone's life. Yiddish and lieder carry pre-war Europe; jazz and musical theater mark her American reinvention; works by composers killed at Auschwitz mark what was lost in between. The range is structural, not decorative.

What anchors the evening?

The centerpiece is "A Room of Light," a newly commissioned song cycle by composer Michael Schachter with a libretto by Grammy-winning writer Gene Scheer. The two drew the text directly from Firestone's own experiences.

By placing a contemporary commission at the structural center of an evening built largely on historical repertoire, the producers make a clear argument about form. "A Room of Light" is the show's interpretive spine. Historical repertoire frames it; the new cycle supplies the contemporary testimony that gives the history its present tense.

Who performs?

A seven-member ensemble carries the production:

• Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor (Grammy-winning)
• Simon Barrad, baritone and cantor
• Ronny Michael Greenberg, creative producer and pianist
• Leah Zeger, violin and vocals
• Joshua Ranz, clarinet
• Ted Atkatz, percussion
• Ted Botsford, double bass

Cohen brings the vocal agility of the countertenor line. Barrad doubles as cantor, a role that places the program in direct conversation with Jewish liturgical practice. Greenberg anchors the ensemble at the piano while shaping the overall staging as creative producer. The chamber texture — single strings, clarinet, percussion, and bass — keeps the focus on voice and text.

Who is behind the production?

The concert grew out of JIVE — Jewish Innovative Voices and Experiences — a music group co-founded by Cohen, Barrad, and Greenberg. JIVE collaborated with the Goldrich Cultural Center on the staging. Greenberg serves in a dual role as both pianist and creative producer, signaling that the project is artist-led rather than presenter-led.

What does the premiere stake out?

The program places Firestone's testimony in direct conversation with music by composers killed at Auschwitz. That pairing carries two arguments at once: a memorial for the dead, and a present-tense commitment to keeping survivor memory alive. The daytime student performances extend that logic outward, putting the material in front of younger audiences before the generation of living witnesses thins further.

The daytime student performances, paired with a contemporary commission at the show's center, point the project beyond the premiere weekend. The format now faces its first real test: how November audiences receive a song cycle that puts survivor testimony into active artistic circulation rather than passive remembrance.