With the recent destruction in Louisiana and Mississippi, music will come to the aid of the victims.

The music department will have a benefit concert Sunday to raise money and donations for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Dr. Cheryl Cifelli, assistant director of bands and assistant professor of woodwinds, used to live in Pass Christian, La., which is about 10 miles from Bay St. Louis and Waveland. She said this area is being called, “ground zero.”

“I have friends all over that area,” Cifelli said. “The church I used to go to for two years is completely demolished.”

Cifelli said most of her friends were musicians.

“All my friends have lost not only their jobs, but most of the time they have lost their way to make money,” she said. “They lost their instruments; they lost their music. They lost the places where they worked. There are no people coming back so they are probably not going to have that job either.”

She said the concert will feature a wide variety of acts.

The benefit concert will include Broadway songs, jazz band and ensemble, the Suzuki violin students, classical piano and the chamber choir. Cifelli said she will be playing clarinet, and Dr. Jeffrey Macomber, assistant professor of low brass, will also be performing a brass piece.

“It’s a big show,” Cifelli said.

This is the first show Cifelli is playing in.

“It’s interesting,” she said.

Rusty Raymond, director of bands, thinks the benefit concert is a “great” idea.

“I think that Dr. Cifelli is able to help personalize the situation down there,” he said.

He said he is excited to have her on Southern’s campus.

“She has been a great edition to our faculty,” Raymond said.

If one cannot attend the event, one can still donate to the fund.

“If they can do it before Sunday, then I will give their donation to the Red Cross when they come get them,” Cifelli said.

She said if anyone cannot donate, they can still attend the concert to “show their support.”

“Anything helps,” Cifelli said.

“My biggest role is just supporting and trying to help get the word out,” Raymond said.

Admission is free to the concert, but donations will be taken at the door.

The concert will be in at 3 p.m. Sunday in Webster Hall auditorium.

For more information or to donate to the relief fund, contact Cifelli at 625-9660.