More than 200 musicians — mainly students from the Homer OPUS program and the Homer Youth String Orchestra Club — will debut new work composed and arranged by a local artist this week.

During a Thursday, April 10, concert at the Mariner Theatre, John Bushell — commonly referred to locally by his stage name, Johnny B — will accompany the hundreds of string musicians on his piano. He also composed and arranged three original pieces for the event: “Bears Do Strut”, “Caribou March,” and “Swift Current Swimmer.”

Bushell has been playing the piano since kindergarten. While in college, he began composing his own music.

“It took a while to learn how to improvise, and then through improvisation, I just started writing my own stuff. But it started off real simple, a couple of chords and just spacing out and going, ‘Ooh, I like that.’ And then once you play it again and again, it becomes a song. That’s what I’ve been keying in on in the last three or four years is songwriting. I love doing it.”

Homer OPUS is a local strings program that works within elementary schools like Chapman and Paul Banks to provide all children a chance at a free, classical music education. The students begin with cardboard violins in kindergarten, learning the basics of etiquette and hand positions. Eventually, they’re given their own wooden violin to play, as well as opportunities to perform onstage and for events, like the concert this Thursday. Bushell said that when he was offered the chance to compose music for the group of performers, the opportunity excited him.

“It’s real special for me,” Bushell said. “Because not only are these kids learning to play music, but when I went and talked to them, I’m able to get them all inspired about the life cycle of salmon and that there’s magic in the water.”

Bushell said that by combining his passion for music with subjects he feels are important, he can help spread awareness and education. When people around him were asking, “What can I do?” in the face of problems, he realized we all must approach that question with an acknowledgement of our strengths.

“I’m taking one problem we have in the world, and that would be keeping our salmon alive and robust. And so, if I can get the kids excited about salmon, if I can perform music, then the audience gets excited about something, maybe they’ll become a steward.”

In addition to his original contributions, Bushell also arranged four additional pieces for Thursday’s event. He said the most exciting thing for him is to see Homer OPUS put a violin in the hands of every single kindergartner through second grader in the Homer area.

“I’ll tell you what, there’s no better way to start off your life than just learning the basics of music and how to keep a beat,” Bushell said.

Sea of Strings will begin Thursday, April 10, at 6 p.m. at the Homer Mariner Theatre. The event will feature Homer Youth String Orchestra Club, Chapman Eagle Ensemble, Codas Ensemble, Fireweed Frescoes, and the Paul Banks Preludes under the direction of String Program Director Abimael Melendez. The event is free for the community to attend.