Gift will allow voices to travel

The Sol Peska fund gives $10,000 to help the Tarpon Springs High School choir go to a national competition.

By KATHERINE GAZELLA
© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 17, 2001

TARPON SPRINGS -- After John Koulianos handed over a $10,000 check to the Tarpon Springs High School choir Friday morning, he was rewarded with an exuberant medley.

"They were all excited," said Koulianos, who gave the check on behalf of the Friends of the Library. "They sang for me."

The choir performed Go Tell It on the Mountain and Ave Verum for Koulianos, the treasurer of the Friends of the Library and chairman of the Sol Peska fund at the Tarpon Springs Library. The donation is from a fund at the library created when Peska, an unassuming retiree who had amassed a small fortune through investments, died in 1996 and gave the library more than $400,000.

The $10,000 will pay for some students to go to a national choir competition in Orlando in March, said choral director Chuck Cheeseman. Each student who goes to the national competition in Orlando and a regional event in Tennessee must pay $850, he said.

"It's a lot of money," he said. "I've got some kids who can't afford to do anything."

Last year, the Tarpon Springs High School band received $25,000 from the Sol Peska fund, so the choir decided to give it a shot this year, Koulianos said. They put together a proposal and asked the Friends of the Library for a donation earlier this year.

The band received private lessons last year from members of the Florida Orchestra at the library, and visitors to the library were invited to listen. This year, the chorus will perform several times at the library, including a candlelight performance at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 13.

"They're working for it," Koulianos said. "This isn't a gift."

In addition to the performances, at least one choir member will volunteer at the library every week, Cheeseman said.

Koulianos said the Friends of the Library have given a lot of money directly to the library, including recent contributions of $50,000 and $36,000. He said the Sol Peska fund has grown from the original $400,000 gift to more than $900,000 through investments, so the Friends of the Library have had plenty of money for donations such as the one to the chorus.

The library also has remembered Peska, an avid movie watcher, with an annual film festival in his honor.

They also created the Sol Peska Collection, which includes about 70 movies that have won Academy Awards for Best Picture, as well 100 movies honored as the best of all time by the American Film Institute.

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