Tickets for “Ten Grands,” a benefit concert scheduled for May 21, 2010 at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, are now on sale. The third annual musical extravaganza that features 10 grand pianos and 10 concert pianists benefits The Snowman Foundation, which funds music education and experiences for youth throughout Washington and Oregon.

Ticket prices start at $42 and may be ordered online online or by phone, 206-215-4747.

Pianists will play a variety of classical, jazz, blues, gospel, boogie woogie, pop, contemporary and new-age music, according to Michael Allen Harrison, artistic director and founder of Ten Grands and The Snowman Foundation. Artists play simultaneously, in duets and other combinations, and as soloists.

Funds from the inaugural concert in 2008 and this year’s sold out event on April 3 have netted more than $70,000. Seventeen groups in Washington state have received grants in support of their musical activities and programs. Recipients for the Snowman Foundation’s “Ten Grands” grants are selected based on need through an application process.

Bellevue resident Kathy Fahlman Dewalt, who taught music for many years in public schools and was instrumental in bringing Ten Grands to Seattle through her longtime friendship with Harrison, serves as executive producer for the concert at Benaroya Hall.

“Ten Grands does more than help fill the budget gaps. In Portland, and now in Seattle, it has evolved into a community effort that shares the joy, the healing, the learning, and the life-changing gifts music has to offer,” she said.

Proceeds fund lessons, musical instruments, materials and supplies, scholarships, artists-in-residence, underwriting to bring performing arts productions to targeted groups, and support for multi-generational and multi-cultural interactions in artistic productions.