Tickets for 'Ten Grands' Music Event in Seattle on Sale

“Ten Grands,” a benefit concert scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 12 at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, are now on sale.

The annual, one-night-only musical extravaganza – which sold out this year -- features 10 grand pianos and 10 concert pianists, plus several young musicians in pre-concert performances. All proceeds benefit The Snowman Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds music education and experiences for youth throughout Washington and Oregon. 

Ticket prices start at $42 and may be ordered online at Benaroya Hall Box Office or by phone, 206-215-4747.

Pianists will play a variety of classical, jazz, blues, gospel, boogie woogie, pop, and contemporary music, according to Michael Allen Harrison, artistic director and founder of Ten Grands and The Snowman Foundation. He said the artists play simultaneously, in duets and other combinations, and as soloists.

Bellevue resident Kathy Fahlman Dewalt, who taught music for many years in public schools and was instrumental in bringing Ten Grands to Seattle through her longtime friendship with Harrison, serves as executive producer for the concert at Benaroya Hall.

“Ten Grands does more than help fill the budget gaps. In Portland, and now in Seattle, it has evolved into a community effort that shares the joy, the healing, the learning, and the life-changing gifts music has to offer,” she remarked.

Funds from the Seattle concert have supported more than a dozen Puget Sound area groups that provide musical education, programs and experiences for youth, including under-served populations. Recipients of the Snowman Foundation’s “Ten Grands” grants are selected based on need through an application process.

The Snowman Foundation, based in Portland, Ore., was formed in September 1999, partly in response to school budget cuts affecting K-12 music programs. Since inception, the nonprofit organization has raised more than $2 million. The annual “Ten Grands” concerts are the major fund-raisers for the foundation, but revenue is also generated from CD sales, other performances (often featuring individual Ten Grands artists), grants and donations.

Proceeds fund lessons, musical instruments, materials and supplies, scholarships, artists-in-residence, underwriting to bring performing arts productions to targeted groups, and support for multi-generational and multi-cultural interactions in artistic productions.

-- This information is from "Ten Grands." It is being posted as a public service announcement because of the mission of The Snowman Foundation, a nonprofit group. Also, ticket proceeds go to support various community groups. .