Faculty concert to raise funds for local elementary school music programs

FIU’s School of Music will present a faculty spotlight concert Friday, Jan. 28, to raise money for “Music in Need,” an award-winning program created and administered by FIU music students that supplies music equipment to local elementary music programs. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center at Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

The Chapter of Collegiate Music Educators National Conference (CMENC) Faculty Spotlight concert will feature works including “The Soldier and the Sailor” arranged by Benjamin Britten, “Si ela” by Dilearmando Reis, “Recuerdos de la Alambra” by Francisco Tarrega, “Re dell’abisso” from Un Ballo in Maschera by Giuseppe Verdi, a violin duet by Mozart, “Nocturne C-sharp minor” and “Polonaise op.53” by Frédéric Chopin, “La Campanella” by Franz Liszt, and a special selection from talented performers from Finlay Elementary School.

FIU music education students and members of the FIU CMENC Chapter, with FIU faculty member Janet Duguay Kirsten, present Redondo Elementary School with instruments for their music program.

“The music students and I are very excited about reaching out to our community. Having been a music teacher in the Miami-Dade County Public School system for many years, I can tell you that a gift like the grant for “Music in Need” can make a world of difference to the receiving teacher and students,” says Janet Duguay Kirsten, CMENC faculty sponsor and coordinator of FIU’s Music Education Program. “Not only are the teachers rewarded, the students excited and the administration appreciative, but the entire community benefits year after year. Our gifts of instruments are incorporated regularly into classroom music-making and featured in concerts for family and friends to enjoy.”

The Music Educators National Conference (MENC) is the national association for music education and has more than 130,000 active members across the nation. FIU’s chapter, the most active in South Florida, received a national Chapter of Excellence Award for its “Music in Need” initiative. The grant is in its fourth year, and FIU CMENC has already awarded music equipment worth more than $3,000 to local elementary music programs. Last year’s first-place winner, Redondo Elementary School, received percussion instruments including drums, sticks, shakers and boom wackers.

Tickets are $5 for general admission. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call 305-348-0496 or visit music.fiu.edu.