The Santa Monica College Music Department is pleased to present a “Healing for Haiti” Benefit Concert April 9, featuring a musical exploration of the richness of American folk songs.
The concert – Music of the People, by the People, for the People – will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 9 in The Edye Second Space at the SMC Performing Arts Center on Santa Monica Boulevard at 11th Street. Donations of $20 are suggested (or any amount is appreciated).
Featured will be soprano Karen Benjamin, tenor Charles Lane, pianist and SMC music professor Yulia Kozlova and KUSC morning host Alan Chapman, who will provide commentary for the program.
The benefit concert is presented in coordination with SMC’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Achievement Project, Black Collegians and Pan-African Support Group.
Other Music Department concerts scheduled in April are:
• Thursday, April 8 at 11:15 a.m.: Piano Master Class by Nora Chiang Wrobel. Wrobel has performed in solo and ensemble concerts throughout the world to much acclaim. She studied at Juilliard Pre-College, received her Bachelor’s of Music degree from Eastman School of Music, did graduate work at New England Conservatory, and received her Master’s of Music from USC. She has studied piano and ensemble with world-renowned musicians, is currently director of the SMC Applied Music Program, teaches privately, conducts master classes, and performs extensively. The Edye Second Space at the SMC Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica Boulevard at 11th Street. (Free)
• Sunday, April 25 at 4 p.m.: Jazz Mini-Festival – Tribute to Oliver Nelson. The SMC Jazz Ensemble’s mini-festival, dedicated to the music of Nelson, will pay tribute to the renowned late composer of such pieces as Stolen Moments. The performance will feature the SMC Jazz Band and the Orange County High School of the Arts Jazz Band, under the direction of Keith Fiddmont; the SMC Jazz Vocal Ensemble, under the direction of Cindy Bourquin; and the critically acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Charles Owens. The program will include one of Nelson’s masterworks, Sound Piece for Jazz Orchestra. The Broad Stage at Santa Monica College, SMC Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica Boulevard at 11th Street. (Tickets are $10)
• Friday, April 30 at 7 & 9 p.m.: Jazz – Jon Mayer Quartet. Mayer has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as a “musician of considerable technical facility with a mature, engaging improvisational sense and an extreme sensitivity to the music going on around him.” The Edye Second Space at the SMC Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica Boulevard at 11th Street. (Tickets are $10)
For tickets, go to www.smc.edu/ eventsinfo and for information, call (310) 434-4323.
