The Seattle Symphony Launches New Partnerships with Local Music Education Organizations

The Seattle Symphony is pleased to announce the launch of new partnerships with three music education organizations: Key to Change, Kids in Concert and Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra (SYSO). These partnerships will be centered around enhancing musical education for racially and economically diverse youth, particularly in the South Seattle area. These partnerships formalize and augment the important, ongoing community work already undertaken by all four organizations. The partnerships will help build a solid foundation to further evolve longer-term collaboration, expanding opportunities for historically underserved youth across the Puget Sound region to enhance their musical development and broaden music education access in the community. 

The Seattle Symphony’s Education and Community Engagement department has an established track record of investing in and building meaningful partnerships within the community. Strengthening relationships with Key to Change, Kids in Concert and SYSO, and investing resources in these collaborations over a number of years, has been a critical aspect of formalizing these new, impactful partnerships. Each season, the Seattle Symphony presents its annual Side-by-Side Concerts, and partners with youth orchestras and schools, including SYSO’s flagship orchestra, giving young musicians the chance to share the Benaroya Hall stage and work closely with the professional musicians of Seattle Symphony. This new partnership supports SYSO’s newest ensemble, MY Southeast, which focuses on the Rainier Valley neighborhood. Kids in Concert is another valued community partner deepening their collaboration with the Symphony. The organization has taken part in the Symphony’s Community Connections program and previously co-hosted a community event with the Symphony.

The Seattle Symphony’s collaboration with Key to Change has already created successful moments of musical exploration for young students. After creating masterclasses with cellist Seth Parker Woods while he served as Artist in Residence in 2020, Key to Change was the recipient of a Community Stages Fund grant from the Symphony. The grant provided organizations, including Key to Change, access to the Symphony’s streaming infrastructure so that these organizations could connect with their audiences and supporters digitally during the height of the pandemic. Key to Change has a long history of removing structural barriers and helping underserved young musicians and students of color follow a path towards a flourishing music education experience and will continue to play a pivotal role in the work undertaken during this exciting partnership, which was recently featured on King FM’s Unmute the Voices radio show.

“The Seattle Symphony is thrilled to take part in this new and very important relationship with three wonderful organizations working hard to improve music education for youth in underserved areas of Seattle,” said Krishna Thiagarajan, President & CEO of the Seattle Symphony. “The Symphony truly believes that we are stronger when we work together, and we are excited to see how this partnership leads to more and better musical training for young musicians in our community. We look forward to seeing new faces at Benaroya Hall and working with these key community partners to improve music education.”
 
“I've had a longstanding relationship with the Seattle Symphony that started when I was a teenager in the early '90s when my teacher played in the orchestra,” said Dr. Quinton Morris, Executive Director of Key to Change. “Partnering with the Seattle Symphony feels like a full-circle moment. I'm very excited about the collaborative, positive impact we will have on students in South King County. Through our partnership, students will study and experience music at a high level, providing access to opportunities that they could have never imagined. My hope is that, through our partnership, we will be able to create experiences that are transformative to the musical and human development of our students that my teenager self would be proud of.”
 
“Kids in Concert organizes and facilitates music programs for students, irrespective of income, but that doesn’t capture the full extent of what we do,” said Lorraine Glover, Board Member of Kids in Concert. “Building community relationships and working with partners is at the heart of Kids in Concert and is essential for our success and the success of our students. We are excited to work with such excellent partners, mentors, teachers and families. When we all invest in a shared mission, we create more opportunities for students, benefitting our entire community.”

“SYSO is honored to expand our longstanding partnership with the Seattle Symphony to enrich programming for student musicians in our recently-created orchestra, Music Youth Southeast (MY Southeast),” said JuanFelipe Molano, SYSO Music Director. “The skill and experience of the Seattle Symphony will assist SYSO in expanding educational opportunities for young musicians in South Seattle, and help us respond to the call for greater inclusion and accessibility throughout our institution. We are excited to have the Seattle Symphony's support, and look forward to working closely with them through MY Southeast to expand access to music education for all students in our community.”

As part of these ongoing partnerships, the Seattle Symphony will provide masterclasses with Symphony musicians and guest artists, sectional rehearsal and panel discussions with Symphony musicians, staff, board and crew members about careers in the arts. Students from these organizations will also have access to open rehearsals and free tickets to Seattle Symphony and Benaroya Hall events, and opportunities to perform with the Seattle Symphony and at Benaroya Hall. An exciting season of musical learning is on the horizon.