Arts & Entertainment

Pepperdine Choral Masterworks Concert to Honor Armed Forces

Pepperdine choirs to collaborate with the San Diego State University Chamber Choir and Malibu High School Chamber Choir in a tribute and benefit concert for the men, women, and veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.

The Pepperdine University Fine Arts Division will present its Choral Masterworks Concert, a collaboration between the Pepperdine choirs, San Diego State University Chamber Choir, and Malibu High School Chamber Choir in a tribute and benefit concert for the men, women, and veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces in April.

The event is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, at Pepperdine's Smothers Theatre, according to organizers.

The Pepperdine Fine Arts Division has teamed with Pepperdine's Volunteer Center and its Service-Learning department in an effort to turn this concert into a fundraising event for the White Heart Foundation, an organization that serves veterans.

Ryan Sawtelle, executive director of the White Heart Foundation and a former Pepperdine graduate, is assembling veterans to be in attendance at the concert, as well as helping Pepperdine find veterans to visit with its choirs about their wartime experiences, thereby making the text and music of Dona Nobis Pacem more meaningful to the choral students.

These visiting veterans include Ben Host, an Iraq War veteran; Capt. Charlie Plumb, a Vietnam War prisoner of war; and Lt. Jim Kunkle, a World War II pilot. Professor Mike Murrie of Pepperdine's Communication Division has been documenting these visits, with plans to produce a documentary video about the entire project. Pepperdine English major Savannah Garrett is researching the life and poetry of Whitman for her senior thesis and will contribute notes for the printed concert program.

Audience members may give a donation to the White Heart Foundation following the performance and attend a reception for the veterans and performers.

Tickets, priced at $10 for the general public, are available now by calling the Pepperdine Center for the Arts Box Office at (310) 506-4522 or through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787. Information online: http://arts.pepperdine.edu/

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