Synergia Northwest comes to Tacoma

New music concert will raise funds for music education

 By Dawn Quinn
 

Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Synergia Northwest is a landmark event in the Tacoma area that combines contemporary, classical, established and up-and-coming Northwest musicians together under one roof.
On May 15, this benefit performance will take place at the Temple Theatre and will feature some big names in the music world, alongside local students representing the best in regional and high school musicians.
Michael McMorrow, a local musician, started formulating the idea two years ago with Alan White, former drummer for Yes and John Lennon.

“A couple members of Music Aid Northwest, (which I was a board member of at the time) and I talked about holding a concert that included orchestration. I shelved it for a while,” McMorrow said.

Being a performer, he started to create an idea with White and his wife about doing an event for youth music education and using an orchestra aspect.

McMorrow, friend Brett Smith (of Central Washington University) and White put their heads together and got in touch with the Washington Music Association and the Seattle Symphony and started to pin down how they could create a benefit. Beyond putting bands together and raising money, the men wanted to involve really great high-school musicians and get them involved in the process.

Performers for Synergia Northwest include White, who is going to be performing music from Yes; Howard Leese, guitarist, record producer and musical director; Tracy Bonham, the Eugene, Ore. native who is a Grammy-nominated musician and classically trained violinist and pianist; and Randy Hanson, a local guitar hero and internationally-known bassist, in addition to a forty plus piece orchestra.

The highlight of the event will be all of the original members of Heart performing together for first time in 30 years. They will perform big late ‘70s singles such as “Dreamboat Annie,” “Barracuda” and others. Leese was the only one who remained with Ann and Nancy Wilson after the other members left the group.

In addition, music of Beaverchief, (the late Fred Jamison), who in the early ‘80s, reached out and became a bridge with the “settler” culture of Seattle and eventually the people of Europe, will be performed by his son Freddy, brother George and Mark Nichols. They will perform Jamison’s native “Swan Song.” The host for the program will be Marty Riemer, renowned host from local rock music station, the Mountain radio.

Though Synergia Northwest has been two years in the making, and the event has amassed some fantastic performers and orchestra, the event coordinators have not forgotten the main cause of the event, which is the preservation of music education in the Northwest.

“The whole concept is centered around youth education and the money raised for these organizations and groups is great but we’re also involving students in the process,” McMorrow noted. “Maybe it will give them a life-changing moment playing next to professionals.”

Though it’s an often held belief that Seattle is the music capital of the state, McMorrow argues that Tacoma has a rich music history just like its sister city. This is one reason among others why Tacoma was picked as the city to hold the Synergia performance.

“We wanted to put it in a historic setting because this is a historic event,” he affirmed. “Tacoma always seems to get overlooked when everyone’s always going to Seattle, but Tacoma’s a part of musical history as much as Seattle.”

Proceeds raised from Synergia Northwest will be directed by Music Aid Northwest, a Washington state nonprofit organization, to the Young Musicians Excelling award funding grant program and to both the Tacoma and Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras scholarship and financial assistance programs.

The program will also benefit Music Matters, a fundraising effort to help support school music programs through sales of a distinctive new license plate, available through the Washington State Department of Licensing. These special license plates will be available to purchase by every car owner in Washington state.

The Young Musicians Excelling fund sponsors state and Northwest competitions every year and music students participate in these, McMorrow said. “In order to participate it costs money, and if there’s a student who’s a prodigy who can’t afford to, this program will enable he or she to do so,” he said.

McMorrow wanted to create a family-friendly event for those who share a love of music and for youth being involved in music. Thus, kids and parents can definitely come to this event together and both take something away from it. Individuals with an appreciation for the aforementioned established musicians, aspiring young musicians and those for the furthering of music and arts education in schools should attend Synergia Northwest to help ensure that music remains taught in schools locally for generations to come.

Synergia Northwest 2010 takes place May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Temple Theatre at the Landmark Convention Center, 47 Saint Helens Ave. Tickets are general admission $24.50 and limited VIP Golden Circle seats (in the first five rows) are $54.50. For more information and to order tickets, visit www.synergianorthwest.com.