ORCHESTRAL PIECE COMPOSED BY NORTHWEST CENTER CLIENTS WITH SEATTLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TO DEBUT FEBRUARY 9, 11, & 12, 2023

Northwest Center Employment Services client Michaela tries her hand at percussion. (Photo by James Holt, Seattle Symphony Orchestra)

A musical partnership between Northwest Center (NWC) and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has returned! In 2019 and 2020, Northwest Center Employment Services clients and SSO musicians worked with composer Charles Corey to create an orchestral piece meant to debut in June 2020 at the symphony’s Beethoven Festival. COVID-19 sidelined those performances, but we are thrilled to announce that the group’s composition Together, This Journey will finally get the performance it deserves at Benaroya Hall on February 9, 11, and 12, 2023.

The partnership that led to Together, This Journey was commissioned by the SSO to demonstrate what people with disabilities can do and to promote inclusion at in the arts, business, and the greater community. Northwest Center clients worked on musical themes with the symphony through a series of workshops that ranged from making art to playing musical instruments to outings to the Woodland Park Zoo and the Seattle Art Museum. 

Not only was this collaboration about making music, it was about making friends: Best Buddies of Washington joined the team and connected individual symphony employees and NWC clients for lasting friendships. Learn more about Best Buddies here.

Together, This Journey will be presented in concert with pieces that include Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. Northwest Center and Best Buddies composers will receive special recognition at the 8 p.m. performance on Saturday, February 11.

Please join us February 9, 11 and 12, 2023 at the Seattle Symphony for the Together, This Journey world premiere.

• Visit the SSO for tickets to Together, This Journey.
• For media inquiries about this special event, please email PNyhan@NWCenter.org.

Employment Services clients Christopher and James work with SSO members at a composition workshop. (Photo by James Holt, SSO)