Local Noblesville, Indiana, favorite the Patrick Heelen Trio will headline an impressive roster of musicians in a special fund-raiser for three families devastated by October’s rare tornado outbreak.
Noblesville, Indiana (PRWEB) February 04, 2012
The Patrick Heelen Trio – an unusual combination featuring Patrick Heelen on clarinet, Vanessa Williams on cello and David Barros on piano – will headline an eclectic and impressive slate featuring six other bands from various national corners, covering musical genres as disparate as classical, country and grunge rock.
“This is a real celebration of music, but more importantly it’s a celebration of community,” said Patrick Heelen, a resident of nearby Westfield, Indiana, who spearheaded the fund-raising concert after reading about the Miller, Mattingly and Farber families.
The three families found themselves at ground zero when a series of thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through Indiana on Oct. 27, 2011. According to official reports from the National Weather Service, at least nine tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down during the rare fall outbreak.
Damage was reported across Indiana, from southeast Dearborn County to northwest Porter County. A reported F1 tornado packing 85 mile-per-hour winds reportedly was on the ground for five full minutes, during which time it tore through a Wal-Mart store in Wabash County, while several homes across the state were damaged or destroyed.
Among them: The homes of the Miller, Mattingly and Farber families, clustered together between corn fields in central Noblesville. No member of any of the three families was injured, but the Miller and Farber homes were totaled and the Mattingly household was so damaged that local officials had no choice but to condemn the structure.
“Mother Nature can be really fickle,” Patrick Heelen noted. “There’s no rhyme or reason why these three houses should be destroyed, while rows of houses less than half a mile away were untouched. But they were destroyed, and these families need this community’s help.”
Several fund-raisers have occurred since the October storms, all designed to help the three families get through their most trying time. The latest will be the special musical concert scheduled for Feb. 21 at Noblesville High School on Cumberland Road. The event was originally scheduled for Noblesville’s famous Klipsch Music Center, an outdoor amphitheater, but organizers decided to move it indoors rather than risk inclement weather spoiling the fun – and lowering the funds.
“These people are waiting for our help,” Patrick Heelen noted. “The last thing we need is a blizzard or something coming along and postponing [the concert].”
The Patrick Heelen Trio, which has graved the Klipsch Music Center and other large-scale venues between Indiana and Chicago, is expected to perform several classical selections written by Beethoven and Brahms and rescored for the unusual piano-cello-clarinet combo. Other acts scheduled for the Feb. 21 concert include the Indianapolis-based country music band Freedom Sisters; Indianapolis-based show-tune crooner Gary Brown; Stamford, Conn.-based rockers Space Junk; Portland, Oregon-based garage band Butter Knife Fight; and Spanish guitar experts Tito and Miranda Garza of Corsicana, Texas.
Funds raised by the concert will support house-reconstruction efforts for the Miller, Mattingly and Farber families. According to the statement released today by the Patrick Heelen Trio, about $155,000 has already been raised since the first donations were made in November at a special basketball tournament hosted by the Noblesville School District.
“These are good people,” Patrick Heelen said. “And a really terrible thing happened to them, something that could happen to any one of us. As a musician, I’m always happy to put on a show. But as a member of this community, we should all be happy to help a neighbor in need, so I hope there’s a huge turnout Feb. 21. Should be a great show!”
About Patrick Heelen
Patrick Heelen, 46, is a noted clarinetist currently residing in Westfield, Indiana, with his wife, Julianne, and their 10-year-old son. He is the leader of the Patrick Heelen Trio, a well-regarded classical ensemble known throughout the Midwest for its moving performances. Heelen, a Brooklyn, New York native and graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, is a part-time music instructor in the Noblesville (Indiana) School District. Patrick Heelen enjoys hiking and painting in his spare time.
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Ed Eshel
VirtuosOnline
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