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IU SCHOOL OF MUSIC FACULTY MEMBERS BAND TOGETHER FOR ASIA CRISIS BENEFIT
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A benefit concert to aid international students at Indiana University who are suffering financially from the devaluation of currencies and other adverse economic conditions in the Asia Pacific region is scheduled April 25 at 5:30 p.m. in Bloomington's Creative Arts Auditorium (10th Street and the Ind. 46 Bypass).
Several hundred IU students who receive funding for their education from Asian sources are facing serious financial difficulty and uncertainty as their countries work to restructure their economies. For some students, previous funding for school or living expenses is no longer adequate because conversion into U.S. dollars from twice to four times the amount of local currency is now required to meet such expenses.
Organized by the IU Asian Student Union, the IU Office of International Services and Bloomington Worldwide Friendship Inc., the Asia Crisis Benefit will include performances by some of the IU School of Music's top faculty artists including cellist David Baker, trumpeter Patrick Harbison, pianist Luke Gillespie, saxophonist Eugene Rousseau, trumpeter Dominic Spera, pianist Leonard Hokanson, clarinetist Min Ho Yeh, percussionist Jonathan Wacker, and pianists Shigeo Neriki and Reiko Shigeoka-Neriki.
The concert will feature an eclectic mix of music ranging from works by Jerome Kern, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis to those by Claude Debussy, Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss.
"The generosity of distinguished faculty and outstanding student performing artists of the IU School of Music who have volunteered to be a part of the Asia Crisis Benefit concert will inspire others to help by making a contribution to the Asian Student Aid Fund," said Kenneth R.R. Gros Louis, Indiana University vice president for academic affairs and Bloomington chancellor. "IU has moved on a number of fronts to provide help as well, but this work by individuals is part of the Bloomington spirit so many of us value deeply," Gros Louis said.
The Asian Student Aid Fund was established at the IU Foundation with a substantial grant from the Asian Student Union, and makes it possible for the IU Office of International Services to award loans and grants-in-aid to students experiencing crisis-related financial problems.
Tickets are $10 and $15 for all audiences. For more information, call the IU International Center at 812-855-7133.
(Erik Novak, Office of Communications and Marketing, 812-855-0089 or 812-855-3911, enovak@indiana.edu)