GVSU Piano Fund Benefit Concert

Grand Valley State University artist-faculty members and piano majors are staging a benefit concert for the acquisition of a new concert grand piano.

The concert will be held Saturday, April 17, from 2-4 p.m. in the Cook-DeWitt Center on the Allendale Campus. An afternoon tea will follow the performances.

"A decent piano will cost anywhere from $70,000 to $120,000," said Helen Marlais associate professor of music. "We are starting from scratch and don't know how long it will take to raise all the funds needed."

Marlais said a second piano is needed to have more "pianocentric" concerts and also to have the capability of most other universities to perform piano concertos and two-piano concerts. "We would like to acquire a smaller, elegant and refined-sounding piano that will be the right fit for the intimate setting of the Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall in the Performing Arts Center," said Marlais. "The current piano in there could then be used in the larger Louis Armstrong Theatre."

Performances at the benefit concert will include pianists Marlais and assistant professor Giuseppe Lupis. Members of the GVSU Woodwind faculty - Arthur Campbell, clarinet; John Clapp, bassoon; Allen French, horn; and Marlen Vavrikova, oboe - will also perform, and various students who are majoring in piano. Marlais will perform Beethoven's Quintet along with the Woodwinds and Lupis will perform solos by Gershwin and Chopin.

Tickets are $20 general admission; $10 university students and seniors; and $5 pre-college students. For ticket information, please contact Valerie Stoelzel at (616) 331-3678, or order online at www.gvsu.edu/music. Tickets will also be available at the door.