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# SMC music students dedicate fundraising concert to Ariel Hanrath-Clark
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/smc-students-set-to-host-fundraising-performance-hanrath-clark-a-sm-local-who-died-in-auto-crash-honored/
- Published: 2007-04-28T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:39:16.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By DAILY PRESS STAFF*

Students from Santa Monica College’s Applied Music Program are dedicating this Sunday’s performance to Ariel Hanrath- Clark, a fellow musician and composer who was killed in an auto accident along with his father, Bob Clark, the creator of the cult-classic “Porky’s” and the holiday staple, “A Christmas Story.”

The performance, which will include selections ranging from classical to jazz to contemporary music, will be held April 29 at 4 p.m. in the SMC Concert Hall. Meera Mugrage, a close friend of Clark’s, will perform one of his original compositions, “Der Totentanz.”

“Clark was an outstanding student in the Applied Music Program who … will truly be missed by all his fellow students, friends and teachers,” said James Smith, chair of the Music Department.

The concert and the reception are being hosted by the SMC Foundation.

Clark, 22, of Santa Monica, and his father, 67, were killed in the early morning hours of April 4 along a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway when their car collided with an SUV driven by a suspected DUI motorist Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who was found to be driving without a license.

Clark was described by one of his professors as “a truly gifted student, talented and very outgoing.”

The highly-competitive Applied Music Program began in 2001 and is especially designed for music major students looking to transfer to a four-year university.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 28, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042807.pdf?ref=smdp.com)