FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2008
Contact: K.E. Schwab
724.738.2199
karl.schwab@sru.edu

Benefit concert aids Shropshire Foundation’s work in Kosovo

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. –The second annual benefit concert to raise awareness and funding for the Shropshire Music Foundation is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Slippery Rock University’s Swope Music Hall. Stacey Steele, assistant professor of music at SRU, is the event sponsor.

     Liz Shropshire, foundation founder, will speak about the foundation she started in 1999 following the war in Kosovo. 

      Shropshire’s program, which brings music to children who have been affected by war, continues in Kosovo and has expanded to work in Uganda. The foundation’s main focus, using music as the tool, is to present another way of life other than hatred and violence to the children they encounter.

      Steele, and her husband, Terry, a retired member of the SRU music faculty, spent several weeks working in Kosovo during a recent sabbatical. The pair saw firsthand the devotion Shropshire has to children and the influence the program has on their lives. 

      "In the city of Gjakova, Kosovo, there were many groups who were eager to help immediately following the war, but Liz is the only one still there. The work she has done and the difference she has made and continues to make for hundreds of children is amazing" Steele said.

      Nanette Kaplan Solomon, piano, and Colleen Neubert, soprano, both members of the SRU music faculty, will be featured and perform works by Chaminade and Schumann. Mary Karen Clardy, professor of flute at the University of North Texas, will perform songs of Faure transcribed for flute. 

     Student groups performing include the SRU Percussion Ensemble and women from the SRU Chamber Singers. The concert will close with Pittsburgh-based singer/songwriter Brad Yoder and bassist, Jason Rafalak.

     Admission is free with donations to the foundation accepted at the door. 

Slippery Rock University is Pennsylvania’s premier public residential university. Slippery Rock University provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that intentionally combines academic instruction with enhanced educational and learning opportunities that make a positive difference in their lives.

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