Federal Way Symphony Programs
We offer five season concerts and are always striving to keep ticket prices within a reasonable price range. To accomplish this, we offer senior and group rates, a Flex Pass at a special rate, and free admission to students age 18 and under to all season concerts. Our venue offers free parking and state-of-the art sound and lighting. Our season concert program offers a combination of classical, pops and swing to appeal to a wide range of interests.
We provide a Summer Music Camp for youth in the area in grades 5-12 conducted by professional musicians from our orchestra with classes in technique, performance and music theory as well as a Master Class from the Music Director. Scholarships are available. We offer a Symphony in the Schools Program that takes a small contingent of musicians into several schools for a live performance.
The Symphony is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and contributes to other charities and performing arts groups in the area. We bring a variety of experiences to our local community including the Garden Tour, Annual Gala Auction, performances in the schools as well as our summer music camp, and will be launching a series of Tots Concerts for the 2011/2012 season.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
In conjunction with our Symphony in the Schools program, we received a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to continue the program for this past year. We were able to reach more than 1600 students and staff with our three programs, which included music from the classical repertoire as well as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Our Christmas concert and our finale of Beethoven’s Ninth were sell-out performances which we hope to repeat for the upcoming 2011/2012 season. We will be adding a special performance of the Messiah to kick-off the holiday season this year.
A critical need at this time is general support for our orchestra to maintain the high quality and level of service we have provided to our audience and community for going on 31 years. We have been extremely prudent in our budgeting in the last two years and have made critical decisions to keep providing top soloists and outstanding music to our public without raising ticket prices, while at the same time realizing that funding for the arts has been hit hard, especially in regional areas such as ours. A grant from the Seattle Foundation and its contributors would help ensure that the Federal Way Symphony can look toward a secure place in the world of live music.