EVENT TO BENEFIT EVACUEES
By Alyssa Fry The Shorthorn staff

The Shorthorn, TX
Oct 14 2005

The Music Department will hold free concert, but donations will be
taken for Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity.

In an effort to raise more money for hurricane evacuees, the Music
Department will present a benefit concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in
Irons Recital Hall.

The event is free, but donations will be accepted. Half the proceeds
will be given to the Red Cross and half will go to Habitat for
Humanity.

Jeffrey Howard, visiting violin assistant professor, initiated the idea
of the performance to the department. He said he wanted to do something
to help because the impact of the recent hurricanes was so great.

“It’s important for the Music Department to have a response and to
do our best to support the people who have lost everything,” he said.

Another reason for wanting to help evacuees was his wife, he said.

Anna Soukiassian, who will perform at the benefit, survived a severe
earthquake in 1998 in her hometown of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

The earthquake hit while she was practicing the piano in the apartment
where she lived with her mother. After seeing the reflection of her
closet door open up behind her, she stood up, but fell to the floor.

“I sat in the window, and people were running out [of the apartment
building],” she said. “It lasted a good two minutes.”

The town of Spitlak, about two hours from where she lived, was where
the earthquake’s epicenter was located.

“The whole town was underground,” Soukiassian said. “There was nobody
to rescue. It was very tragic, I’m sure thousands died.”

This experience is the driving force behind her participation in this
concert, aside from supporting her husband, she said.

“I’ve been through and seen a lot of damages from natural disasters,”
she said. “And I know hurricanes are another kind of natural disaster,
but I have heard stories that remind me of the earthquake.

I am doing this without hesitation.”

Associate professor Elizabeth Morrow will also perform in the
concert. The last part of the performance, the “Adagio for Strings,”
was chosen because it’s very expressive, she said.

“We had to look for a piece that looked at the contemplative side
when we’re confronted with things that humble us,” she said.

Music, she said, is something the department can share with the public
while helping evacuees.

“It’s an opportunity to share our relationship with music which is
a personal thing,” she said. “And with this concert we share this
relationship on a public level.”