Music has been known to bring people together in times of great happiness and sadness as well. Jeffrey James, a member of the United Methodist Church of Farmingdale is putting together a benefit concert at the church to help flood victims of Mozambique, a southeast African country distraught after water ripped through homes and destroyed communities. His hopes are to raise enough money to bring some devastated families back to their feet.

"The flooding and devastation is incredible," he said. "Classical musicians need to get more involved in social causes."

The Concert for Mozambique will be held on Sunday, June 4 at 3 p.m. at the church, located on 407 Main Street. All of the money raised at the concert will go toward the flood relief because of the support of the Arthur White Funeral Home, who will pick up the artist fees and other costs associated with the concert.

The church's organist and director of music Christine Bouton will be joined by trumpet virtuoso Rodger Lee. The program will feature Bouton and Lee performing music by Mozart, Baroque composers Torelli, Fantini, Purcell and Keller, American Composers Robert Baksa, Joseph Turrin and Eric Ewazen, also featuring Albert Hay Malotte's setting of The Lord's Prayer, Dudley Buck's Concert Variation on the Star Spangled Banner and E. Power Biggs' arrangement of Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever, both for organ solo.

Christine Bouton is the director of music at the church. She has presented recitals throughout the New York metropolitan area and was the featured organ soloist for the King's College Choir on tour in the US. and England. She is a graduate of the Kings College, where she studied with Dewitt Wasson, noted music critic for "the American organist." She was formerly the director of music at Bay Shore United Methodist Church and is a composer, arranger and accompanist.

Rodger Lee has played with the Metropolitan Fanfare trumpets, the Goldman Band and the Old Bethpage Civil War Brass Band. He is currently with Les Miserables on Broadway. Lee also performs with The Royal Brass, a renaissance trumpet ensemble. Besides performing regularly with the Broadway production of Scarlet Pimpernel, he has also played with other shows such as Peter Pan and Putting It Together. He is a composer for both trumpet ensemble and piano, and writes record reviews for the Historic Brass Journal Newsletter.

Jeffrey James has run a public relations firm for classical musicians, called the Jeffrey James Arts Consulting, since 1992. He used to work for the Nassau/Suffolk orchestra out of Hofstra University.

James is in the middle of a large musical project with pianist Jeffrey Biegel of Valley Stream. The concert will include 25 orchestras. Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize and one of the major composers in the United States is composing a piece for Biegel. The concert will premiere in Cincinnati in September and will move all over the country.

James said that he and other church members, including the pastor want to do more benefit concerts. Tickets for the Mozambique concert are $10 per person or $20 per family, including a meet the artists reception. Children under 15, free of charge. For directions or concert information, call the Farmingdale United Methodist Church at 694-3424.