Published: Sunday, July 19, 2009
Everett Symphony retools approach, venues for new season
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Michael O’Leary / The Herald
Viola player Rebecca Hindmarsh visits the Bethany Center, one of the Everett Symphony’s new locations for its fall season. The symphony used to play at the Historic Everett Theatre.
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Michael O'Leary/The Herald Viola player Rebecca Hindmarsh and the rest of the Everett Symphony Orchestra will be playing at this new location, Bethany Center in Everett, along with other new auditoriums such as New Life Center in Everett as part of their new fall season.
There’s so much that’s new about the Everett Symphony and its 2009-10 season that to say the symphony has rewritten its score goes beyond cliche.
Let’s start with the fact that the symphony is bringing back concert programs for children and families.
Then there’s the fact that the Everett Symphony is partnering with Disney, bringing in the Cirque de la Symphonie acrobats and the Moscow Ballet. But that’s not all.
The symphony also will be playing some of its concerts at two new Everett locations this season — Bethany Center, 2715 Everett Ave., and the New Life Center, 6830 Highland Drive. The symphony has abandoned playing at the Historic Everett Theatre, choosing instead these new venues, which offer plush concert-style auditoriums, ample parking and big lobbies and are rent-free because the centers are donating their facilities.
It’s a new Everett Symphony indeed, one that symphony leaders say is responding more to the community’s needs.
“The community wants and needs the symphony to reach out to new audiences of children, youth and adults who desire more access to our music,” symphony board president Myrna Overstreet wrote in the season brochure.
CEO Roger Pawley said the symphony has also been fiscally responsible as well, selling its headquarters building on Colby Avenue, reducing staff and cutting back on expenses.
“It’s all about preserving that core of classical music,” Pawley said. “It’s an aggressive strategy, but it’s not expending a lot of our resources.”
For instance, collaborating with the Moscow Ballet, instead of the Olympic Ballet out of Edmonds, to perform the Great Russian Nutcracker in November is a financial win-win-win because the symphony is getting paid a fee to play — instead of paying Olympic Ballet — and the symphony doesn’t have to shell out any money for advertising. Also, there’s little risk in selling tickets to a show as prestigious as the Moscow Ballet, Pawley said.
Performing in June will be Cirque de la Symphonie, a group of acrobats and aerialists that choreographs such classics as “Bolero,” which is a sure moneymaker, Pawley said. “They sold out in Spokane.”
The Classical Artists Showcase series of concerts to be held at 3 p.m. on Saturdays increases the access for families and older patrons who can’t always make the late-night Friday shows, Pawley said.
And then there’s the return of the children’s programs and family concerts.
The symphony’s former Explore Music Program ended in March 2007 for a variety of economic reasons. Ending Explore Music was “terribly shortsighted,” said Ron Friesen, the symphony’s assistant conductor and a music educator. But Friesen said the symphony’s current programming signals “quite a commitment.”
“To appreciate and enjoy a symphony orchestra as an adult, kids need to be exposed to it in their younger years. That’s just critical to build our audience for the future, to the extent that if we don’t expose the younger students to the orchestra, we essentially seal our own fate from an audience standpoint,” Friesen said.
This season, the symphony will present six Family Together Concerettes led by the group Let Your Music Shine. These programs are geared for infants to 7-year-olds, and have names such as “Mother Goose Goes to the Symphony” and “Teddy Bear’s Musical Picnic.” The goal is to introduce musical instruments and concepts to children. The symphony also plans an additional five family-oriented concerts.
To kick off this family programming, they’ve slated a Music Education Expo on Sept. 26 at New Life Center with teachers and music producers. Following the expo, the symphony performs the first Family Together Concert, “The Magical Music of Disney.”
“We’re hoping that we become a worthy organization to support,” Friesen said. “If we are going to be viable as a community organization, we have to identify community needs and then step up to the plate.”
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424, goffredo@heraldnet.com
Symphony season
For a complete brochure on the 2009-2010 season or to order season tickets go to www.everettsymphony.org.
Let’s start with the fact that the symphony is bringing back concert programs for children and families.
Then there’s the fact that the Everett Symphony is partnering with Disney, bringing in the Cirque de la Symphonie acrobats and the Moscow Ballet. But that’s not all.
The symphony also will be playing some of its concerts at two new Everett locations this season — Bethany Center, 2715 Everett Ave., and the New Life Center, 6830 Highland Drive. The symphony has abandoned playing at the Historic Everett Theatre, choosing instead these new venues, which offer plush concert-style auditoriums, ample parking and big lobbies and are rent-free because the centers are donating their facilities.
It’s a new Everett Symphony indeed, one that symphony leaders say is responding more to the community’s needs.
“The community wants and needs the symphony to reach out to new audiences of children, youth and adults who desire more access to our music,” symphony board president Myrna Overstreet wrote in the season brochure.
CEO Roger Pawley said the symphony has also been fiscally responsible as well, selling its headquarters building on Colby Avenue, reducing staff and cutting back on expenses.
“It’s all about preserving that core of classical music,” Pawley said. “It’s an aggressive strategy, but it’s not expending a lot of our resources.”
For instance, collaborating with the Moscow Ballet, instead of the Olympic Ballet out of Edmonds, to perform the Great Russian Nutcracker in November is a financial win-win-win because the symphony is getting paid a fee to play — instead of paying Olympic Ballet — and the symphony doesn’t have to shell out any money for advertising. Also, there’s little risk in selling tickets to a show as prestigious as the Moscow Ballet, Pawley said.
Performing in June will be Cirque de la Symphonie, a group of acrobats and aerialists that choreographs such classics as “Bolero,” which is a sure moneymaker, Pawley said. “They sold out in Spokane.”
The Classical Artists Showcase series of concerts to be held at 3 p.m. on Saturdays increases the access for families and older patrons who can’t always make the late-night Friday shows, Pawley said.
And then there’s the return of the children’s programs and family concerts.
The symphony’s former Explore Music Program ended in March 2007 for a variety of economic reasons. Ending Explore Music was “terribly shortsighted,” said Ron Friesen, the symphony’s assistant conductor and a music educator. But Friesen said the symphony’s current programming signals “quite a commitment.”
“To appreciate and enjoy a symphony orchestra as an adult, kids need to be exposed to it in their younger years. That’s just critical to build our audience for the future, to the extent that if we don’t expose the younger students to the orchestra, we essentially seal our own fate from an audience standpoint,” Friesen said.
This season, the symphony will present six Family Together Concerettes led by the group Let Your Music Shine. These programs are geared for infants to 7-year-olds, and have names such as “Mother Goose Goes to the Symphony” and “Teddy Bear’s Musical Picnic.” The goal is to introduce musical instruments and concepts to children. The symphony also plans an additional five family-oriented concerts.
To kick off this family programming, they’ve slated a Music Education Expo on Sept. 26 at New Life Center with teachers and music producers. Following the expo, the symphony performs the first Family Together Concert, “The Magical Music of Disney.”
“We’re hoping that we become a worthy organization to support,” Friesen said. “If we are going to be viable as a community organization, we have to identify community needs and then step up to the plate.”
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424, goffredo@heraldnet.com
Symphony season
For a complete brochure on the 2009-2010 season or to order season tickets go to www.everettsymphony.org.
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