Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2008-04-08

Samford University music/pre-medicine major Amanda Tapley will present "Music for a Cure," a benefit concert for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Saturday, April 19, at 7 p.m. in Brock Recital Hall at Samford.

Tapley will be joined by several family members in the concert, which will include a variety of classical piano and vocal music by composers Tschaikowsky, Rachmaninoff, Pachelbel, Chopin, Bach and Schubert.

Tapley will play Tschaikowsky's Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor with an uncle, Dr. Anthony Turkiewicz. Tapley, who is 2008 Miss Samford, won the talent award at the school pageant in November for her performance of the piece. She will also sing several selections by Italian composers.

Other family members on the program include Tapley's brother, Jeffrey Tapley, and her grandfather, retired Samford piano professor Dr. Witold W. Turkiewicz. The duo will play Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2. Her grandmother, Marie Turkiewicz, and another uncle, Dr. Tommy Turkiewicz, will sing.

Anthony Turkiewicz will also play Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze and Pachelbel's Canon in D with Samford student violinist Rachel Emery.

"Music for a Cure" is Tapley's platform in the Miss Alabama pageant, to be held in June. In 2006, she and her brother, Jeffrey, raised $4,000 for St. Jude's hospital through the release of a CD of piano music. The benefit concert is a continuation of her fundraising efforts for the hospital, as well as an attempt to raise awareness of pediatric medical research.

A Samford sophomore, Tapley is the daughter of Patricia and Jeff Tapley of Birmingham.

The concert is free and open to the public. Donations for St. Jude's will be accepted. For information, go to www.musicforacure.cfsites.org.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.