The MSU Music Club held a fundraiser at Mia’s Italian Restaurant on Nov. 4 to benefit not only the music department, but the local restaurant as well.
For $20 at the door, those in attendance were not only treated to a good meal, but also a full production from the MSU Music Club.
“We had a packed house,” Senior event coordinator Cornelius Roberson said. “We probably had at least 100 people and many bought their tickets at the door. Word spread around really fast.”
According to Roberson, a majority of the money went to Mia’s for providing the location and meal for the evening’s event, while a portion of the money earned went into the scholarship fund in the music department.
Around $1000 was the restaurant’s profit for the evening, with an additional $800 being raised for the scholarship fund.
“Mia’s is a locally-owned authentic Italian restaurant that doesn’t get a lot of recognition,” Roberson said. “The food is amazing, but not a lot of people know where it is since it’s located on Seymour Highway.”
Roberson said the department was more than happy to use this opportunity to not only raise scholarship funds, but also help out a local business.
While part of the night’s festivities were to enjoy the local cuisine, a major portion was dedicated to the talents of MSU alumni and current vocal majors to showcase their talents.
“We had a number of students and alumni volunteer to sing at this event,” Roberson said. “The vocal instructors also got involved and helped everyone practice their pieces. It was a lot of fun to put together.”
Roberson began planning the even as far back as July and had contacted many of the performers by the time school started in August to get the evening’s event ready for production.
A number of noteable singers were pulled together to participate in the event, including Billy Brasfield, Melissa Ward, Andrew Jamison, Randi Roanhaus and Roberson, himself.
The set list for the evening was comprised of a wide variety of songs, but they all went along with the Italian theme of the night by being sung in Italian.
Senior Grace Johnson also participated in the concert, singing a duet with Mariece Roberts.
“We performed a duet composed by Mozart that Mariece and I have done a few times before for other recitals,” Johnson said. “It was a way to for us to showcase our talents in another capacity besides a recital and it was a lot of fun.”
Johnson said that despite the Italian theme, the concert contained a good variety of pieces due to the singers involved, and with the help of all the music department’s vocal instructors.
“I really believe this concert was a success,” Johnson said. “The food was great, everyone who sang did an amazing job, and the audience really enjoyed the evening.”
This benefit will play a big part in future generations of music majors, according to Johnson.
“There’s not a very big budget available for the music school to give out scholarships,” she said. “Having fundraisers like this enables us to give more possibilities for scholarships for music students in the future.”
While the earnings from the fundraiser will go into the general scholarship fund for the music department, Roberson said they try to set money aside strictly for vocal minors.
“This really helps vocal minors a lot,” he said. “Anyone interested can apply for it, as long as they maintain a 2.75 GPA, and take part in a major ensemble each semester they receive the scholarship.”
Johnson said she has benefitted from this scholarship and participates in these fundraisers as a way to show her gratitude.
“I’ve been on scholarship through this program since I started school at MSU,” she said. “Even though me or my fellow students won’t see any of the money raised, it feels good to know we’re helping future music majors the same way we were helped. I guess it’s our way of paying it forward.”
After the great turnout for the fundraiser, Roberson said he hopes to make this a yearly event.
“We had a good turnout for this event and we hope that we can do this again in the future,” Roberson said. “We would like to encourage all of the student body to come out and support all of the fine arts majors whenever they can, whether it be the music, art, theater arts or mass communication department.”