CSUN’s Smorgasbord of Artistic Delights

Imagine yourself in an outdoor restaurant, being shown the dessert tray and realizing you want a bite from every dish that’s offered.

Now, transpose that delicious feeling to a concert hall setting where you’re looking at the printed program and finding yourself looking forward to every composition listed. If you’re an arts enthusiast, this is how you could feel Sunday at “An Afternoon of Art, Music and Theatre” at Cal State Northridge in a benefit to support a scholarship fund for arts students.

On tap are musical and dramatic works by William Byrd, Antonin Dvorak, Joseph Haydn, Francis Poulenc, Stephen Sondheim and Alec Wilder, classical Korean folklore and a new composition by music professor emeritus Ralph Heidsiek. All works will be performed by honors students and faculty from the College of Arts, Media and Communication.

Television and stage actress Eve Brenner (‘Star Trek: The next Generation,” “Chicago Hope”) will introduce the performers and provide commentary.

On display in the patio of the Music Building, where a reception will follow the performances, will be paintings and sculpture by honor students in the Art Department.

The event, which begins at 3 p.m., is a fund-raiser organized by the CSUN Arts Council, a volunteer organization that sponsors a Student Achievement Award Fund. “The fund is for students who start here [at CSUN] who we want to enable to continue,” Heidsiek said.

Names of graduates--which include choreographer Paula Abdul, actress Terry Garr, actor Cheech Marin, director Donald Petrie, actress Debra Winger and opera diva Carol Van Ness--come up in conversation with Heidsiek, who was the founding dean of the School of Music (now a department) in the 1950s.

“But scholarship award money to help talented students continue after they’ve gotten a scholarship to enroll their first year is hard to come by,” he pointed out.

The CSUN Arts Council has held fund-raisers and provided support services for the arts programs since 1971.

Said Heidsiek: “They’re phenomenal.”

BE THERE

“Afternoon of Art, Music and Theatre,” a benefit sponsored by the CSUN Arts Council, Sunday at 3 p.m., Cal State Northridge Music Patio and Recital Hall, Nordhoff Street at Darby Avenue. Tickets: $50 and $35. (818) 677-2488.