The Department of Music will host a benefit memorial concert celebrating the legacy of Dr. Daniel DiCicco on September 27, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. in Fisher Auditorium.

The Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Marching Band, faculty chamber ensembles, an alumni concert band, and jazz band will perform during the event.

The concert will be free and open to the community, but donations will be accepted and will be used to fund the Dr. Daniel and Dorothy DiCicco Rehearsal Hall in Cogswell Hall, home to the Music Department.

DiCicco was a 1954 IUP graduate. He returned to IUP as a member of the music faculty in 1956 and retired in 1989 after thirty-three years of service to the university.

As director of bands, DiCicco directed the IUP Symphonic Band, the Mellowmen, and the Marching Band. He founded the IUP Wind Ensemble in 1961 and began the annual IUP Honors Band program in 1974. DiCicco passed away February 3.

“With the naming of the DiCicco Rehearsal Hall, the Department of Music will recognize the outstanding achievements and unsurpassed dedication of Dr. DiCicco,” concert organizer and IUP music professor Dr. Kevin Eisensmith said. “The naming of the Daniel and Dorothy DiCicco Rehearsal Hall is an appropriate legacy for this legendary figure of IUP's Department of Music.”

Alumni and friends interested in performing with the alumni concert band or jazz band should contact Eisensmith at 724-357-1246 or via e-mail at tptprof@iup.edu before September 12. Rehearsals will be held during the day on September 26.

Anyone interesting in making a gift for the hall should contact Shari Trinkley, IUP development officer, at 724-357-0164 or at trinks@iup.edu by e-mail.

Checks, made payable to the Foundation for IUP and marked account 4705, can be sent to the Foundation for IUP, Records Information Manager, Sutton Hall, Room 103, 1011 South Drive, Indiana, PA 15705. Gifts may also be made electronically on the .