Benefit concert to aid school music program

Orcas Island’s many talented music makers will join together Sunday, March 7, at 3 p.m. for a benefit concert, the proceeds from which will go to the school music program. The concert will take place in the middle school gym. The theme will be “Music, Music, Music.”

It is being sponsored by an organization called the Music Advocacy Group (MAG), which has been raising money for the music program since 1995, and whose members have been helping to instruct interested children.

Many of the performers will be school musicians who will be performing with adults. They will include an elementary strings group playing with the orchestra Island Sinfonia, high school violinists Megan Swanland and Kelly Baker performing with violinist Aloysia Friedmann, and a clarinetist accompanied by pianist Jon Kimura Parker. Masters of ceremonies will be high school students Phillip Ghazel and JB Bitzer.

Also performing will be the Community Band, the Orcas Band (students from the public school, Christian school, and home schoolers), Orcatrazz (dance band), and the Orcas Choral Society. The concert will conclude with all the performers joining in to sing “Hymn to Freedom.”

Admission is by donation. Money raised at the concert will go for musical material and instruments, according to school music teacher Lizz Hanks.

Those wishing to contribute to the music program, but are unable to attend the concert, can make checks payable to the MAG, care of the Orcas Island Community Foundation.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.